O Brother, Where Art Thou
by HK-Revan
Summary: In which the Espada wonder about Aizen's sexuality and whether or not him spawning will be a good thing or a bad thing. Arrancar Arc. The vizard are coming....
1. Aizen Kurosaki

Dislcaimer: I do not own Bleach.

This is an inspiration from an RP session between myself and Velgma.

BAUAHAHAH….

And the crack commences

Joke:

Q: hey, what's a kurosaki without a good dose of angst? Me  
A: a really dead one? Velgma

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It was a drab funeral; silent and private save for the quiet sobbing of a nine-year-old orange haired boy. The tall father stood there smoking a single cigarette, the smoke trailing up into the sky. The two daughters were crying as well, each making their own resolves as they stood before their mother's grave. The eldest son, dark haired and quiet was crying as well.

The death of Masaki Kurosaki was a blow to the entire household. Nothing would ever be the same. It was from that day on that the eldest son went to a certain shopkeeper for training. He was rejected several times over the course of the year. But his time was not spent in vain. He did learn something and in the end endeared himself to the shopkeeper. Like a fungus, Urahara would say smiling.

One year later, it was the anniversary of Masaki's death. Ten-year-old Ichigo was resolute, eyes determined, face firm. He had made his resolution, and he promised himself and to her grave that he will keep this resolution until his death.

Aizen stared at the gravestone of his mother. It was strange. Today, on the anniversary of his mother's death, Urahara had agreed to train him. If only he found the shopkeeper earlier. If only he was more persistent then his mother wouldn't be dead. Her spirit did not linger and he could not see her ghost. She might've turned into a hollow for all he knew. Or she might've been devoured.

He gritted his teeth silently. He should've been there. Then maybe she wouldn't have died. Of all of them, Ichigo loved Masaki the most. Ichigo brightened up whenever she was around, clung to her and loved her unconditionally. It was as if he never separated from the umbilical cord. When mother died, Ichigo would stand on the riverbank where she died for days on end looking for her. You see, Ichigo can see dead people too. Of everything that Urahara taught him, those with strong reiatsu can see ghosts.

Why did the hollow go after Ichigo? Was it because Ichigo's reiatsu was more blatant while his was reclusive like himself? But it wasn't Ichigo's fault, Aizen thought to himself scolding himself fiercely at the notion that Ichigo was at fault. It was the stupid hollow's fault.

Aizen rarely gets mad and when he does, the world shudders. It wasn't power but just that he ruthlessly plots his opponents demise and never gets caught. The hollow just made itself target number one. When Aizen gets his hand on that hollow, it will rue the day it was created.

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Present Day

'_Aizen-senpai…Aizen-senpai..'_

'_Why?...Why?'_

'_Execute'_

With a gasp, Aizen Kurosaki woke up, sweating and trembling all over. The eighteen year old fumbled for his glasses before turning the light on. He took deep breaths. That was plain creepy. For days now he's been having weird and vivid dreams, strange, horrific, B-movie flick dreams that did not have gore but suspense.

Aizen groaned and promised himself not to eat any pizza before sleeping. It does nightmares on his digestion and brain.

He stood, pushing the covers away from his bed. With the long practice of habit, he washed his face, cleaned his teeth and took a shower. Up at the crack of dawn, he dressed and ambled down the stairs to the kitchen. Yuzu was already there making breakfast.

He helped her set up, putting the plates and eating utensils on the table. She gave him his morning tea and the two waited for everyone else to wake up. Karin was next, yawning sleepily as she meandered down the stairs. She sat down and proceeded to fall asleep again.

Aizen stood and proceeded to grease the floor in front of the stairs. He then sat down and waited for the fun to arrive. With a giant bang, Isshin ran down the stairs and yelled. "Good morning!"

With one foot on the last step and one foot on the greased part of the floor he slipped comically. With crazy pinwheeling arms Isshin tried to regain his balance only to fall face first onto the ground. Aizen heard snickering, it appears Karin wasn't as tired as she seemed. He indulged himself with a chuckle. Take that old man thought Aizen as he grabbed his school bag. That will be the last time he chased away any potential girlfriend of his. Then again, Aizen should've known not to introduce any girl to Isshin. Isshin is a disaster all by himself.

Where was Ichigo? He was fast asleep in his room, safe from the commotion for once but not for long.

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Later

"I'm home." Ichigo announced walking in.

"You're late!" That shout was accompanied by a kick in the head courtesy of Isshin.

The other inhabitants of the house sighed as son and father dukes it out.

"Oh- Stop it both of you the food is getting cold," stated Yuzu concerned, ladle in hand.

"Leave 'em alone Yuzu." Karin muttered. "Another bowl."

The third occupant munched on his food ignoring the fight all together.

"Hey, Ai-ni." Yuzu effortlessly butchered her older brother's name. "Why don't you ever get in a fight with tou-san?"

Aizen looked at yuzu, chopsticks in his mouth. "I sneak in and use Ichi here as a shield." He smirked. "Besides I'm surprised the tou-san can still kick Ichi around. He's like..what 40?"

The three couldn't even image being forty and still kicking like their father. The conversation drifted to the ability to see ghosts. Aizen was thankfully he took the reiatsu surpressing pills so no way ward ghosts or pluses could latch onto him like they do to Ichigo. Aizen pondered how to slip the same pills in Ichigo's drink so Ichigo could get some peace and rest. It must suck having reiatsu like a freaking beacon.

Aizen looked up again when he heard the Ichigo shout that he was leaving. Really, sometimes, he couldn't believe his father would start immature fights. Besides it wasn't as if Aizen didn't get into fights. It just so happens he knows how to get out of the way.

At least he won't have to watch his back anymore. His school was doing a foreign exchange student program and he was picked as one of the few students to go. His bags were already packed, all he needed to go was get up and get away from this mad house. But something was keeping him here.

Aizen heard his little brother yelling something, and glanced up stairs, he almost thought he might have sense something up there and dismissed it as Ichigo's raging reiatsu. Seriously, even on suppressants he could pinpoint Ichigo's location. His father, who went up stairs, loud thumping sounds and then come back sobbing again. Through his hiccups Aizen could hear him moaning about his inability to see ghosts.

Aizen sighed. Again, sometimes he wondered why he was born into this family. Did he do something bad in his first life? He adjusted his glasses and grabbed his traveling bag. That was his cue to leave. By the time Ichigo got down the stairs with his esteemed guest, all Rukia saw the backside of a person.

"By Ai-ni!" Yuzu waved at Aizen's retreating back before focusing on Rukia, or the blurry thing that was Rukia. Karin made a half-hearted good bye before attending to the still sobbing Isshin.

"Who was that?" For a brief second, Rukia thought she recognized the person even though she only saw the back.

"Older brother." Answered Ichigo automatically, he then narrowed his eyes at her suspiciously. "Now spill, who the hell are you really and none of this shinigami bullshit."

Aizen got onto his motorbike. "Take care of them Ichigo." He muttered under his breath. He drove off.

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August-After summer vacation-(Edited)

"I'm home." Aizen opened the door and stepped into the house. It was mid morning. He had just returned from his months long trip and was now back in his hometown. It was time to see if the house was still standing.

He immediately caught sight of Ichigo who was watching TV.

"Ichigo wh-" He paused. There was something different about Ichigo. He walked over to the sofa, jumping over it, landing on the balls of his feet on the sofa cushions.

"What?" Ichigo asked, looking at him irritated as he always is. But the facial expression was different. Also, the impressive aura that Ichigo always had was absent. Clearly this wasn't Ichigo.

There doesn't seem to be anything wrong so he didn't confront the person who wasn't Ichigo.

"Nothing." Aizen muttered. He waltz over the sofa again. "Tell dad that I'm back." He left.

Kon briefed in a huge sigh of relief. Playing as Ichigo was so much hard work. He was a mod soul and took over Ichigo's body when Ichigo's spirit self has to be elsewhere. He might was well enjoy this as long as it lasted before Ichigo came back.

"Rukai nee-chan." Kon closed his fists resolutely. "Ichigo will bring you back."

His mind went to dream land as he imagined the reunion he'd have with Rukia while still in Ichigo's body.

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Aizen walked to Urahara's shop. It was time to see his mentor again after the long pause in training. When he entered it, it was strangely quiet and silent. He wandered around before he found the entrance to the secret training area.

"Tch." Aizen climbed down the ladder. This place was where he trained with Urahara and Yourichi-sama. The cat-woman was evil. Apparently, she revealed her true image in the nude because she likes shocking people. He had no clue why she continued doing it to him. Aizen swore that she gets her jollies off doing that.

He only meet her a week before his departure but still she managed to embarrass him completely in that short week time. There were some things an eighteen year old was not meant to see.

When he got to the bottom he walked around the rather ruined landscape to find Urahara standing before a big picture frame.

"Urahara-sensei what's that?" He pointed at the gate.

"It's a gate." Urahara said, hand on hat.

"I know that." Aizen said annoyed. "But where?"

"Soul Society."

He raised an eyebrow at that. "Uh huh." He walked up to Urahara. "I know you did something to Ichigo. There is a mod soul in his body. If a mod soul is in his body then that means his soul isn't in his body. Ergo, you must've done something."

Urahara raised his hands. "Ah, I didn't do much." Again a hand went to his hat, deepening the shadows covering his face. "You're so different…"

"Of course I am! I was just in another country for a few months." Aizen scowled at Urahara. "But it isn't about me. Where is Ichigo?"

Urahara smiled. He did not mean that but the _other_ thing. "He went to Soul Society to save a dear friend of his."

Aizen was dumbstruck. "What? Why?" He paused. "How?"

Urahara grined. "It doesn't matter. All that matters is that he is going to Soul Society for Rukia and will most likely get into a lot of trouble."

Aizen's eye twitch. "Trouble that you steered him into right?"

"No." Urahara made a gesture. "I would never do that."

Aizen scoffed. "Who is this Rukia?"

"A girl."

"What the hell do you mean my brother went to Soul Society for a girl!?" Shouted a very annoyed older brother at Urahara who was grinning like a loon.

Great, his brother will likely get himself killed, and that means he going to have to go Soul Society and help him. Just bloody GREAT. Aizen knew his younger brother was stubborn and had a strong protective personality. He should've stayed here in his hometown and made sure nothing happened. But Aizen remembered and knew that Ichigo could take care of himself.

He rummaged through his bag to bring out a small clear bottle. Inside the bottle was a small green ball. Aizen opened the bottle up and swallowed the ball. He popped out of his body. His body steped back before stretching it's limbs. The mod soul made a thumbs up sign.

"Be careful Aizen."

Aizen walked towards the gate. "Aren't I always?"

"Oh and do keep away from the fifth captain. " Urahara advised.

Aizen raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

Urahara's smile widened. "Trust me."

Aizen scoffed once more as Urahara opened the gate. Aizen decided that he will ignore that advice if he runs into the 5th, since whoever that is would likely be in his way of keep his brother in one piece. Soul Society was not a playground and ryoka are not appreciated.

Urahara watched as Aizen disappeared. "Let us see how you changed Aizen Sosuke.." Murmered Urahara, eyes shadowed.

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Like? And No, Aizen is not an OC. Just wait and see.


	2. Appearing

Dislcaimer: I do not own Bleach.

A/N: For those who are confused, this is a story about Aizen who is Ichigo's brother. There is another Aizen in this universe who is a captain and is doing very bad things. Aizen Kurosaki has just followed Ichigo into Soul Society, a few hours after Ichigo went in. Aizen got 'trained' by Urahara who knows more than he is letting on.

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It has very lonely in the room all by herself and all Rukia's been doing was thinking, thinking about her pasts, her regrets. All the insignificant and significant issues and choices she has ever done. Her life before becoming a shinigami, her life after and her life now and the terrible mess she was in.

As she rethought her life and everything, her thoughts went back to a certain orange haired boy. Ichigo Kurosaki was a pain in the ass, a powerful fighter, and most of all an idiot to the bone. But he was such a lovable idiot.

She hoped he was safe at home with his family. In the quiet and stark plainness of her cell, Rukia counted the hours and days. She started thinking about Chad, Ishida, Inoue and Ichigo. She thought about Ichigo's family, the crazy father and the two younger sisters. The elder brother who she never meet but once, not that it counted for he never saw her.

She wandered if he would've liked her, if all of the Kurosaki family was crazy or if he could see ghosts too. She saw pictures of the older boy. In comparison to Ichigo, he was always smiling not scowling or blank faced. The eldest sibling of the Kurosaki house and the one whom Rukia had almost no knowledge about.

In fact…

Rukia tilted her head up gaze at the ceiling. She didn't even know his name except that the girls of the family calls him Ai-ni. During their time together, Ichigo didn't really talk much about his older brother. It wasn't that Ichigo didin't want to, it was just the issue was never brought up. It was the just the sheer amount of hollow attacks, school and the meeting/confrontation of all the other people just pushed the issue into the back of her mind.

She did see a picture before. It was a Halloween picture of the group from a few years back. Ichigo was absolutely cute back then, his fuzzy orange hair covered by a police man's cap. Even then he had a perpetual frown and furrowed eyebrows. Yes, she was not ashamed to say she squeed at the picture.

Next to him was a taller brown haired boy with red-brown eyes. He too was dressed in a police officer's outfit. Ichigo had to explain to her that he was wearing contacts and that his brother was near sighted and without contacts or glasses he was a blind as a bat. A cute bat but a really blind one. One who is prone into walking into walls.

Ichigo also readily told her about the tattoo incident. How Isshin blew a gasket for ten straight minutes before laughing for the following twenty. Ichigo was snickering as he told her recalling the look on his older brother's face and how comical it was.

The only other thing she knew was that he goes to a different high school than Ichigo and was off on an exchange program/summer school. That meant there was one less person to hide Ichigo's powers from, one less person to involve in this mistake.

During her time here, she accepted her execution. She accepted the orders from the central 46 no matter how inane they were. It was times like these that she remembered that Soul Society was flawed. That bad things happen to good people and that Gin Ichimaru was a scary ass person. But there was nothing to be done. Even her adopted brother didn't plead her case. No one helped her. So all she could do is think.

Acceptance.

It was the least she could do for dishonoring the Kuchiki name and shaming her brother who took her in.

As her last act she will right the wrong.

Be well Ichigo she thought silently. He would be safe in the Living World. He would live, age and then die. He will become a shinigami properly. He won't remember her but at least he will live to his full potential. Even if she die, she will die happy and content.

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Aizen ran through the Dangai, his small legs making it harder to get through the tunnel than if he was at his normal size. But alas, his shinigami self looked only eleven or twelve and barely topped four feet. He wore the standard shinigami garb but was a pint sized person compared to his real body.

It wasn't his fault he was tiny as a kid an only got a growth spurt when he got older. But when he first became a shinigami, he was small. His soul self would remain that size due to his lack of maturity. At the very thought Aizen rolled his eyes. He was lots mature, heck he was more mature than Urahara who wore that ridiculous hat.

If the heart believes itself to be young then the soul is young. Aizen didn't like the thought of that due to his inner child, he would be this small. He wanted to be big. His sword was as big as he was, and that wasn't fair. At least it was sealed. When he first became a shinigami, his spiritual energy was strong and he had to learn how to control it. That was his first lesson. By learning how to seal his soul cutter and by wearing reiatsu suppressors, Aizen was able to keep under the radar.

He did not want shinigami coming and killing him or taking him away. Soul Society is very touchy of ryoka and of humans learning the existance of shinigami. Besides it wasn't as if Urahara taught him much. Urahara stated to him that his zanpakuto was not meant to teach others in ways of shikai or bankai. So Urahara taught him other things.

Control.

Control.

Control.

If there was anything Urahara drilled into his head was control. Power was nothing if you can't direct it at will. So that was what he did, he learned control. He learned sword fighting by taking kendo classes and sometimes some fencing. From there he learned a variety of martial arts, karate, and judo.

He even learned stuff from Star Wars. Some movies had really good stunt doubles.

There was a lot of things he did to supplement what Urahara didn't teach him. He dabbled in Jujutsu, Taekwondo and some Boxing. Most of this was done on his own time, in-between the school work and helping out at the clinic. Most of it was self taught, through books and practicing it with the daily fights with Isshin. He wasn't an expert at any of those but he could recognize most exaggerated movements and defend himself. Unlike Ichigo he didn't focus on karate and as such in a straight out fight with Ichigo using karate he would lose. Ichigo was one of the better fighters in Karate.

But in a straight out brawl he would win. Even without using his illusions, he could maybe get in a tie with Ichigo in a fight. Ichigo had freakily impressive stamina. It wasn't athletic stamina, it was the kind you would expect out of a very fit twenty year old man, not something in a teenager. It was the kind you see in American marines who run for twenty miles up a mountain with sixth pound packs on during one hundred degree temperature.

Aizen was a mixed martial artist. He liked, for once, to be unpredictable. This way, he can switch from form to form, gaining the element of surprise. He knows various grappling moves, submissions, kicking, punching, using his elbows and knees. He also knows how to use the environment to his benfit and he wasn't above throwing dirt into a person's eye. Aizen actually thought he knew enough to beat Urahara only to get his ass handed to him by Yourichi. She then proceeded to tell him all his mistakes and proceded to beat him up the entire week. In the end, he learned more from her than he did from Urahara for physical combat. He also had a nice collection of bruises from that week.

In all six years, the only thing he learned was shinigami history, kido spells, shunpo-even that was self learned-and control. He lost count in the sheer amount of times he was used as a guinea pig in his experiments and the times he was dropped into the training area against some unknown thing and expected to survive it. Urahara was a sneaky bastard and conniving too. Very manipulative too.

Just the thought of Ichigo meeting Urahara made him worry. At times, Ichigo can be very gullible and easy manipulate, he should know, he himself manipulated Ichigo multiple times. Aizen hoped that whatever trouble was occurring, Ichigo would be able to keep himself alive and in one piece.

In this small, miniature shape, he would be able to sneak by people unseen. If that doesn't work, he could always make them_ see_ something different. Also, if, life and death situation, he could take off the reiatsu suppressor disguised as ear clips. Urahara warned him to not take them off unless he was something really, really, really, really bad was going to happen. That was the only time the smiling shopkeeper went dark and serious. So Aizen kept them on.

In comparison to Ichigo, his reiatsu was held in. Instead of pulsating everywhere, it was kept inside him. This made it more managable. It also didn't give Aizen a clear idea in how much reiatsu he had. It left him in the dark. There were times, he was tempted to see how much reiatsu he had but Urahara's dark look in his mind kept him from doing it.

At least, Urahara's history lessons were helping him.

The Dangai or the crack between Soul Society and Living World would only be open for four minutes. In that short time span, he would have to run through it and exit before the time limit it reached. If he was still inside it he would be very dead. Or deader.

Aizen didn't really believe that to be possible. And he really didn't want to find out either.

The Dangai is filled with Kouryuu, sticker than industrial glue and more deadly. The Kouryuu was dripping from non-existent walls and onto the floor. The floor was covered in bones that snapped as he ran on them. The place was caving in as well, making it impossible to turn around. All you can do it go straight.

With his zanpakuto strapped to his back, the blade as long as he was, he ran nimbly and swore to himself that dying here is not a great way to go. If anything, he will choose the place he dies and the reason he died. He would accept nothing else.

As he sprinted towards the exit, Aizen thanked whatever god or deity that had power that the Seimichio wasn't out. From what Urahara taught him, it looked as big as a train and was covered in Kouryuu. Little did he know, it was out hours before, nearly running over Ichigo and his friends.

With one last jump into the gleaming exit, he was catapulted out into Soul Society. The portal was open several feet into the air, nearly making him plummet to the ground. In a futile attempt to fly, he crashed into the trees, head first, making a bump on his head.

He sat there dazed before a pair of hands grabbed him and dragged him away. Seconds later, a pair of socks and sandals appeared.

"I thought I saw something here." Said a voice before moving away.

Aizen looked up to see a grinning boy.

"Sssh." The boy placed a finger on his lips before indicating to move with a hand.

Aizen followed the boy into a house. Once they were in the safety of the house, Aizen saw that there were other inhabitants.

They were in Ryuutamashikai, the poorest and closest area to Torrorei, where the shinigami live. Here souls were given a number and showed an area where they should go. Rarely can a person find someone from their own time or their own family. Most people don't remember what their past life was and make new lives. Those who have strong reiatsu have to eat or die. Those with strong reiatsu are sometimes found by shinigami patrols and taken into the Academy.

"I'm Shibata." Said his rescuer. "Are you like Ichigo and the others?"

Aizen perked up at the word Ichigo, faltering slightly at the word others. "Who are these others?"

Shibata was happy to explain. "Inoue-chan, Chad-san, and Ishida-san." He paused. "Also a talking black cat."

Aizen had no clue who the other three were but he had an inkling who the cat was. Yourichi-sama must've gone with Ichigo and others. That was good, even though he disliked the evil cat woman for her antics. Yourichi was a master at hand to hand and most likely a former head of the Secret Corps in Soul Soceity. With her, she won't steer them into trouble.

"Thank you for helping me." Aizen bowed. "My name is Ai…Ai-ni."

"Ai-ni?" Shibata blinked. "That's a funny name."

Ai-ni rolled his eyes. "That's why my sisters call me and sometimes Ichigo when he's being a complete idiot."

"You're Ichigo's brother?" Shibata stared at Ai-ni intently. "You don't look like him."

Ai-ni flipped his hand dismissively. "Yeah I know. I don't have orange hair or furrowed eyebrows."

Shibata grinned. "Where are you going to go now? Are you going to jump the gate? Where did you come from? Are you with Ichigo's group? Do you also have a talking cat?"

Ai-ni frowned and peaked out of the window and saw the biggest gates he'd ever seen. The gates were called Torureimon and usually had a gatekeeper guarding it. Strange thing was, there was no gatekeeper. But the gate was still there.

"What happened?" He tunred around to face Shibata.

Shibata's grin widened. "Ichigo went up against Jidanbou and defeated him. There's a lot of talk cause no one got past Jidanbou for three hundred years." His smile dimmed a little. "Then one of the shinigami cut off one of Jidanbou's arms." His smile went back to full brightness. "But Orihime-chan fixed him up."

From the small and rather compressed description, Ai-ni learned that Ichigo was a rather powerful shinigami. Ichigo got into a fight. Ichigo got friends and one who can heal. That was good. It was always good to have a healer on the team. Good. This was good. This meant Ichigo got friends who can fight and who can help.

"You should stay here for the night." Shibata tugged at his sleeve. "Mom and dad says it is okay."

Ai-ni shook his head. "I have to find Ichigo and meet up with him."

Shibata nodded.

"Thanks for saving me." Ai-ni stood, a slight smile appearing on his face. "Hey how high do you think those walls are?"

Shibata blinked at the question. "Are you going to jump it?"

Ai-ni smirked. "Ah, no."

He left the house and went towards the walls. It was nighttime. The lack of light would give him a much better cover than the brightness of day. Ai-ni started off at a run, using shunpo, gathering speed before using his momentum to run up the wall. This was very dangerous and very stupid but it might work.

By using his shortness and speed with a lot of momentum, he should be able to scale the wall and get up high enough to at least jump to the top. This way he won't have to deal with the gate itself. Besides, most people don't look up when looking for intruders.

He was three quarters of the way when his foot slipped. By channeling all his energy into his feet, he jumped up, flipped over in the air and the strong wind blew him towards the wall at very high speeds.

"Awk." He clung onto the edge of the top of the wall with both hands. Ai-ni pulled himself up onto the wall and stood.

That was a bit of a mistake.

Ai-ni yelped as a strong wind nearly pushed him over. This position was decidedly bad to be in. As he weathered the winds Ai-ni thought he felt Ichigo's spiritual pressure. It was outside the walled in area. Damn, that meant Ichigo wasn't inside yet. Ai-ni turned to jump down when the wind blew him off the wall and into Torrorei.

"Umha." He landed on his feet, absorbing the shock through his legs. He stood, looking at the looming walls. Damn, now he can't get over the walls due to the large population of shinigami. He really didn't want to alert them of his presence.

"At least they didn't catch me yet." He muttered to himself, reaching over to touch his zanpakuto in reassurance.

"Alert, Alert." A loud bonging sound resounded. "Intruders in the City! All Personals Should Report To Their Stations."

The heck? Ai-ni hid in a shadowed area between houses. No one saw him. And he couldn't feel Ichigo's reiatsu anywhere near this place. So who was invading? And even if they did see him, they would've found him already.

_What was going on?_

With that thought in mind, Ai-ni disappeared into the shadows. With the shinigami in a heightened state of alertness, he shouldn't draw attention to himself.

"I Repeat Alert. Intruders In the City! Please Return To Your Appointed Stations!"

Something wicked was going on in Shinigami Town.

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Meanwhile, Ichigo was fast asleep from accidentally causing an explosion. He had Yourichi's tail in his hands and was bending it in really bad shapes. The others tried to stop him but alas, Ichigo was making Yourichi's tail into an art form. The frantic wails of Yourichi did not make Ichigo falter.

In the end, it took the whole group's effort to yank Yourichi's tail away from the crazy hands and into safety. Sadly, her tail was still bent in many shapes. And Ichigo slept on.

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Ta, dah. Chapter two!

Explained some history and hey, even tied in the fluke emergency call with Ai-ni sneaking in.

As of now, Aizen Kurosaki will be called Ai-ni, as to not have confusion.

Show some appreciation for the chapter please, you know you want to do it.

smirks

Or else I'll sic both Aizen's on you!

BAUAHAHAHHAHA

ABUAAHHAHAH

ABAUHAHHA

BUAAHAH

ABUA

HA!

Click the button. Or elseee...points to the two Aizen's


	3. Coming together

Dislcaimer: I do not own Bleach.

A/N: Thanks to all my splendid reviewers. I'm sorry it's going a little slow but I'm trying to explain Ai-ni's past as well put him into the timeline. Don't worry, everything is going to out of wack, very soon.

Also, due to spoilers, if you haven't gotten past the Rukia Rescue Arc, I'm really spoiling the story for ya.

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Urahara was worried. He was plain worried. He knew what he was doing was wrong in the moral sense. He was sending children to fix his mistakes. He was making kids fix one of his greatest creations and blunders.

Rukia was a perfect choice but it seems that perfect choices do not work in an imperfect world. And now she was paying the price.

He already knew what he was doing but sending Aizen Sosuke in after them? Urahra should've smacked the boy upside the head. To his knowledge, there was still an Aizen Sosuke in Soul Society. He had a theory as in why there were two.

But he couldn't understand why there were two.

Urahara tapped his cane. Two Aizen's. Two reiatsu signatures that resister the same, two identical soul cutters but that was where they stopped in similarity. From there they were different, because of this, when Aizen came for training he accepted after almost a year of prodding.

Perhaps…Urahara mused, it wasn't wise to stunt Aizen Kurosaki's growth or mislead him. Ah well, he would survive. If he was anything like his 'twin' he wouldn't die so easily. Then again, they were different even though their base soul was the same.

Memoires change people. Life changes people.

He would have never trained Aizen Kurosaki, if he had a shred of ambition to use the power for bad things. Instead Aizen Kurosaki was a very kind boy, a bit strange and eccentric but kind. When he smiled, it was real. When he cried it was due to real pain and not fake emotions.

Isshin knew what he was doing when he adopted the boy who called himself Aizen Sosuke.

Urahara knew what he was doing.

The dice had been thrown, the cards selected and the players placed. The problem was the game has still been unnamed and the dealer unseen.

KKKKKK

Aizen walked away from his room, leaving his sleeping vice captain. He was soon accompanied by Gin who waved at him silently. The plan was set; it was time he 'died'.

As he initiated his zanpakuto's shikai, he couldn't help but feel slightly agitated. He had no reason to feel this agitation and yet, his very strong intuition was telling him that something was out of place.

With an impatient draw of his blade, he dismissed his misgivings. Everything will work because it will. He had long done everything needed for this farce. Soon he will ascend to heaven and sit down on the throne of God.

No one will stop him.

It wasn't as if they could.

KKKKKKKK

He ran, slipping in and out of the alleyways like a mere shadow. There had been several raging reiatsu signatures. Ai-ni could definitely tell where Ichigo was, the problem was pinpointing where. Also getting there was a major pain in the ass. In those long hours, he had to sneak past hoards of shinigami groups and the secret police. It was very lucky he didn't get caught yet.

It was very strange though. There had been more heightened security after the first day and whisperings. Apparently someone very important got killed and that was why there was so much hubbub occurring.

It was all Greek to him.

As he moved from place to place, looking for ways to actually get to his brother and maybe to pique his curiosity as in to why strange things were happening he caught sight of orange hair and a gleam of glasses.

His curiosity was even more evident when the orange haired girl defeated the two passing shinigami with one strike. And her breasts drew most of his attention. They were impossibly big.

He followed them into a building where they proceeded to change. In a poor attempt to be a gentlemen, he covered his eyes and he was ashamed to admit it but he did peek through his fingers.

It was just too tempting. He was a man and he had needs even though his outward appearance was that of a child. This attraction seemed almost weird considering he only meet her but minutes ago. But he felt a warmth grow inside him at the sight of her.

When the two were done, they were prepared to exit the building. He took this as an opportunity to jump down from his perch on the ceiling.

"Yo."

The glasses kid reacted surprisingly fast, making a bow appear out of no where. "Inoue, get behind me."

"You're a quincy." Ai-ni was not perturbed by the closeness of the weapon. "Aren't you guys extinct?"

The quincy boy's eyes narrowed. "Shinigami." He spat, anger and hatred rolling under his words.

"Che." Ai-ni sighed. "I'm not your enemy."

"You're a shinigami." Stated the quincy, quite obviously, his bow pointed at Ai-ni.

"I'm Ichigo's older brother." Ai-ni stated, noting the two's reactions. "You guys never meet me before cause I was on a school student exchange program."

"Ishida-kun I don't think he's lying." Inoue, the orange haired girl placed a hand on Ishida's tense shoulders.

"He could be lying." Ishida wasn't ready to accept anything yet.

"Look, would a random shinigami know that Ichigo is a blundering reckless idiot who t is so courageous it makes him rather moronic at times? Or the fact he is racing into Soul Society for a girl called Rukia?" Ai-ni waited for the response.

Ishida doesn't appear to be convinced but he did seem less tense.

"Aug." It appears he would have to show them the picture. He raised a hand indicating clearly he had no weapon and dug into his top pulling out a picture. "Does this convince you?"

It was a polaroid of the whole Kurosaki family before Masaki's death. It was Halloween and eight-year-old Ichigo was in a bunny suit while Yuzu and Karin were in princess clothes. He was eleven then and was teasing Ichigo about the bunny suit. Despite the teasing Ichigo was smiling because the bunny suit was something she made. He was wearing a Jedi suit. He even got his hair cut that way due to the fad and he was obsessed with the 'Jedi mind trick'.

Inoue squealed at Ichigo's cuteness while Ishida snickered. The bow disappeared. Ishida handed the picture back to him.

"I think that is enough evidence." He said, a smirk in his voice. He chuckled to himself.

"Hehehe…I can't wait to lord over Kurosaki…heheh.."

Ai-ni blinked as a dark aura surrounded Ishida as he plotted to embarrass Ichigo.

"Ishida-kun is very competitive." Inoue offered helpfully.

"Ah."

"I'm Inoue Orihime and he's Ishida Uryuu." She bowed to him. "It is very nice to meet you."

"My name is Aizen Kurosaki." Ai-ni bowed to them. "I'm here to make sure my idiot of a younger brother doesn't die." He grinned. "Call me Ai-ni so you won't be confused with Kurosaki this and Kurosaki that."

As the trio walked out, Orihime paused. " Ai-ni, if you're older than Kurosaki-kun then why are you so small?"

Ai-ni twitched. "Stupid Urahara." He mumbled under his breath before addressing the duo. "Something about my inner child expressing itself in very loud tones."

"Oh."

There was a pause.

"Wait." It was Ishida. "Wouldn't it be suspicious if a child was with us?"

Ai-ni frowned. Ishida was correct. It would look too suspicious. From what he learned, only genius goes through the Academy in short amounts of time and those people would be very high profile. That means a change was in order.

He took a deep breath and clapped his hands together. "UmHah." He said sharply.

Orihime and Ishida took a step back as a tall teenager replaced the small boy from before. The tall teenager kept the same face and hairstyle. He was much taller and just as broad shouldered as Ichigo. He towered over her but was shorter than Ishida.

She wasn't aware she was staring until she heard his voice. "Is the illusion off?"

She eked, blushing before shaking her head.

Ishida's eye twitched and he adjusted his glasses. He glared at Ai-ni.

"And now for the glasses…" He changed his features again, this time Bon Jovi like glasses appearing.

"Ano." Orihime's soft voice made Ai-ni stop. "Your glasses hide you eyes."

"You're right." The glasses disappeared. "That is way too suspicious. I might as well stick a neon sign over my head."

Ai-ni peered at Ishida. "Got it."

A pair of glasses appeared on his face. They were blocky, black, thick, and very dorky. "Tadah." He adjusted the glasses as if they were real. "What do you think?"

"That was awesome." Orihime clapped her hands together.

"Very real." Ishida said grudgingly. "Let's go."

The trio left, combining with a patrolling shinigami group unnoticed. They easily melted into the group, going along with the shouting and searching. Orihime was right. Even though they were human, there was practically no difference between them.

The 'leader' was ordering the other shinigami around.

"Good work." He turned around. Apparently, he had noticed the new trio. "I don't believe I've seen you before. Are you new?"

"Yep." Orihime saluted. "I just joined recently. My name is Inoue. Pleased to meet you." She was very exuberant.

"I'm Ishida. Nice to meet you." He not so much.

" My name is Ai-ni It was a pleasure to meet you." Ai-ni said just as despondent.

His attention was brought back to fore when he heard the last bits of the bigger shinigami's words. "What do you think? Want to come to my room tonight?"

A neuron synapse snapped in Ai-ni's mind as he listened to the dunderhead try to impress Orihime. He felt he had to protect her even though he only met her a few minutes ago. What was happening to him?

"I won't treat you wrong- "

Ishida stepped up in front of Orihime as Ai-ni sidled up next to him, both staring down at the shinigami disapprovingly.

"What the hell is your problem?"

Ishida then basically dressed the seated officer down. His whole speech said. "I am disappointed in you." His whole demeanor actually made the seated officer try to defend himself.

Luckily, the small verbal fight did not come to blows. The shinigami had to leave.

"Thank you Ishida-san."

Ishida proceeded to blush and fiddle with his glasses. "I just don't like guys like that."

Ai-ni rolled his eyes. "A complete buffoon that one. But it's very lucky that man was a complete buffoon, if it was someone of higher rank say third or even second, we would be toast." He gave Orihime a thumbs up. "Your plan was excellent."

She smilied and thumbs up back. "Yep. Even though I made it up, it worked."

She thumbed through her small book. "We should go that way." She pointed in the general direction.

"Kurosaki-kun. He probably got there safely right?" She had a wistful expression on her face.

"We should go and help him. Kurosaki will most likely mess up everything if he rushes in alone." Ishida stood from his resting place.

Orihime smiled.

Ai-ni followed the duo. Orihime chattered about nonsense while Ishida listened.

"Ah, Ai-ni, can I touch your hair?" That was one of her more inane questions.

He bent down slightly so she could reach up and touch it. "Wow, it even feels real." She got really excited. "It's all brown and poofy."

Ai-ni didn't like getting petted or gawked at.

"We should start running." Ishida pointed out. "The Tower is pretty far away and Orihime can't do shunpo. It's better to be in a group."

Ai-ni nodded in agreement. Orihime and Ishida ran in front while he ran in the back and kept a general eye out for shinigami. They were running steadily for five minutes when someone shouted out. "Hey you three, over there!"

They stopped and turned.

"Which division are you from?" Asked the man a sack of sake in his hand. "What are you doing here?"

"We're from the eleventh division." Stated Orihime and Ishida as Ai-ni said at the same time. "I'm from the fifth division."

When Ai-ni caught what the other two were saying, he inwardly groaned. Of all the numbers, they picked, why the battle crazy one? If anything the two looked like they belonged in fourth division

"That's strange I'm from the eleventh division as well." He walked towards them. "I didn't know there were idiots from our battle oriented eleventh division who would run around without a soul cutter."

With a push, he shoved by Ai-ni going straight for Orihime. With a yank, he pulled Orihime's outside robe out, looking at the symbol sewn inside.

"Wait a second." The clearly drunk man snarled. "This is symbol of the twelfth division, you're not from eleventh."

"You don't even know your stuff." The man was confused, not angry. "Who the hell are you?"

Before he could say anymore or do anything, he collapsed. Orihime and Ishida looked to see a group of shinigami, apparently allies, and Ai-ni. When the shinigami smacked the man on the head, Ai-ni elbowed him in the kidneys.

The drunken man had no chance.

As the group crowded the three talking and reassuring, something felt wrong. It wasn't the act of smacking the drunk man but just the fact a group would come and be relaxed. Most shinigami had serious looks on their faces.

"Inoue-san, get away from them!" Shouted Ishida, reaching the same conclusion at a quicker pace.

Ai-ni turned his head and caught the sight of two shinigami, one captain and one unknown girl and a detonator. In that split second, he moved away from the group via shunpo, dodging the explosion and splattering gore. With the sudden leap, his illusion was dropped and he was a little kid again.

From his vantage point, he could tell the other shinigami had no clue this was happening as they all blew up. He couldn't see if Orihime or Ishida survived the blast from point blank range. He was behind them, masked from sight by the explosions. As the smoke cleared, he could see an orange triangle in the air and two figures behind it.

They were alive.

It seemed Orihime could summon shields and by using that shield, she was able to protect herself and Ishida. There was also the drunken shinigami. He was one lucky drunk. He rushed towards the two. The twelfth division captain seemed to have special interest in Orihime. He saying the most ridiculous things but from his standpoint they probably sounded rather reasonable.

As he tried to console her about their deaths, a huge spiritual aura crushed down on them. In urgency, Ishida called out. "Inoue run. Hurry!"

Inoue didn't want to. She tried to rise despite the heavy air. "I won't. I want to fight." She wanted to avenge those pointless deaths.

Ishida looked to see the eleventh division guy. "Take Inoue and get out of here!" He ordered, as he kept his bow at the captain. He didn't want any innocent bystanders getting hurt.

The drunken shinigami faltered.

"Do it! Drag her away if you have to." Ishida shouted.

The drunk guy grabbed Inoue and ran for it. Ai-ni followed and drew his sword. Mayuri, shot off his hand towards the group. Ishida's arrow intercepted. The fight was on.

Meanwhile, the drunk man had ran for his life not knowing he was safe. AI-ni had initiated his shikai, making Mayuri think he was shooting at them when in reality, if Ishida's arrow didn't hit, the hand would've missed by a few feet.

When they were further away he canceled it and ran to catch up, just in time to see he smack Orihime.

"Hey." He jumped down in front of him. "You don't hit girls."

The shinigami faltered. "She bit me." He protested.

Ai-ni snickered.

The shinigami scowled. "You never been bitten by a crazed woman who you're suppose to be rescuing drifter." He started for the stairs.

Ai-ni shook his head and followed the shinigami. As they walked a pair of feet landed on Ai-ni, knocking the poor boy down. His skull scraped against the stair edges, making them bleed.

The shinigami turned and bowed the best he could. "Vice captain Kusajisn!"

The pink haired shinigami grinned. "Maki-maki." She indicated to him. "Follow me."

Maki-maki did as he was told and shunpo'd after her. Ai-ni made a squawk of protest before following. There were times he wished he was a control freak. Then maybe, things will go his way for once.

KKKKKKK

They arrived in another building where three other beings sat. One was a monstrously tall one with bandages and a bloodthirsty grin anyone could recognize. He didn't seem to care that his vice captain brought in two drifters.

The other two were equally bandaged but were more amicable.

Ai-ni leaned against a wall, waiting for something to be decided. It took only a few minutes for the captain to decide to go after Ichigo. It appears he wanted to fight him again.

"Hey, so you're Ai-ni?" Asked the bald one, looking down on him. "You're pretty short to be Ichigo's older brother."

Ai-ni responded by punching with his fist up, smacking him on his bandaged arm making him cry out in pain. "Shad up."

The one with feathers in his eyebrow remarked derisively. "How ugly."

It was official. He was in a room filled with crazy people. There was the pink menace, the drunken Maki-Maki, the bald fool and the qausi-sexual feathered one.

In fact, the only sane ones in this room was Inoue and maybe the captain if he was stretching the definition a bit. Ai-ni wondered how he got in such company.

Ah, yes….

It was all Ichigo's fault.

Screw the helping him, he was going to smack his brother's face for being so impudent and crazy.

Later at night, Ai-ni took the whole night to talk to his zanpakuto, Kyoka Suigetsu. It was time they had a very long and well deserved talk. Ever since he has been in Soul Society, it felt like his soul was being pulled. Sometimes it felt like there was an echo of his reiatsu whenever he searched for reiatsu presences.

He had been talking to Kyoka Suigetsu ever since he entered Soul Society. There was something he had to find out himself. Something so important he had to do it himself.

A part of him knew that he needed to attain Bankai. But he simply couldn't acces enough energy to do so. He could sever the reiatsu supressors and maybe find out what Urahara had been hiding from him. He wasn't that stupid. He knew the crafty shopkeeper/shinigami had many mysteries up his sleeve.

He left.

Ai-ni left Orihime a note telling them that he had gone on ahead. Ai-ni knew that the captain wouldn't mind. Right now all the captain was focusing on was fighting. There was fighting to be had.

At dawn, he settled himself confortably from a good vantage point of the execution hill. With a hand, he pulled off the first limiter. At first he felt no change but then...he felt it. A door was open to him that was previously closed.

"Kudakero Kyōka Suigetsu."

Absolute Hypnosis

KKKKKKKKKKK

Deep in the Central 46, Aizen waited paitiently for everything to unfurl. Enemies have been redicected. The excutiong was coming as planned. Everything was right with the world.

But still, he had this nagging feeling. It felt like an itch to his mind. An irritable itch.

His zanpakuto was mostly silent. Not like it talked to him much. He had dominated it utterly, marked it as his own and controlled it completely. A man must be master of his own house and subjects before taking over the world. He was such a man.

So he was slightly surprised to feel Kyoka Suigetsu thrumm for a few seconds before growing silent. He was displeased. It was time to remind Kyoka Suigetsu who was master and who was the tool.

KKKKKKKK

Hehe..and now we have Ishida and Orihime.

DUN DUAH! Aizen meeting Aizen, next chapter. Will take longer to write…but it will be there!...I hope.

Oh and um…Am I Going to Fast?

Show some appreciation for the chapter please, you know you want to do it.

Here's a link in how his hair style is right now! I got it off a website where I really liked the hair style the guy had. but no sideburns. Sideburns are too much Isshin. 'Shudder'

h t t p : / / w w w . f o t o l i a . c o m / i d / 1 3 0 3 8 6 5

Or else I'll sic both Aizen's on you!

BAUAHAHAHHAHA


	4. Aizen meet Aizen have fun

Dislcaimer: I do not own Bleach.

A/N: Thanks to all my splendid reviewers. I'm sorry it's going a little slow but I'm trying to explain Ai-ni's past as well put him into the timeline. Don't worry, everything is going to out of wack, very soon.

Also, due to spoilers, if you haven't gotten past the Rukia Rescue Arc, I'm really spoiling the story for ya.

Okay. It is epic. It is the fight.

I owe to the readers to draw this fight out to it's awesomeness. Like in several parts.

KKKKKK

Ai-ni was only two years old when Isshin found him. It was after the marriage and he went out for a stroll. The two went on a vacation near a beach resort. He was dressed in shorts and jacket, trampling through the sand whistling. It was nearing sundown. Soon, it would be time for a romantic walk with a looming moon on one side and a setting sun on the other. The calm waters seem to allude to something destructive.

He took the time to stare at the waters that he saw it. A small figure floating in the ocean was washed upon the shore, seaweed covering his wet body. Isshin immediately ran up to it, checking the body for life signs. There was no heartbeat.

Isshin started doing CPR.

After a few frantic seconds passed by before the boy coughed up water. Frantic wheezing sounds were heard as the child clung to life.

"What is your name?" Isshin asked, as he started dialing the paramedics. "Where are your parents?"

The child clung to him. "Don't have parents." He said, voice raspy and muffled. "My..name…is.." He wheezed, coughing up more sea water.

The paramedics came, and Isshin followed the child's journey to the hospital. From there he called Urahara and his wife. Well, he called his wife first, telling her he'll be late and then Urahara.

From the moment he touched the shivering boy's body, he felt a powerful reiatsu lurking under the surface. That, in itself, was suspicious and in a way poked at his curiosity. Was he from China? Was he on a ship that sank somewhere near the coast?

"Are you the father?" Asked a doctor, walking up to the brooding Isshin.

"No." Isshin answered, hands laced together.

"I see." The doctor thumbed through his notes. "Are you the caretaker then of the child?"

Isshin shook his head.

"Are you going to pay for his medical bills?" The doctor asked crisply.

"Yes."

"Well then," The doctor gestured to Isshin. "He's been asking for you. As I quote 'the funny man who glows'." The doctor frowned. "I don't think smoking is good around a child."

Isshin knew immediately that the boy was referring to his reiatsu. Even though now in this gigai body his reiatsu is depleted it still hasn't faded away completely yet. This also led to another interesting point. The kid can actually see the reiatsu, which means he is powerful enough not only to see ghosts and shinigami but reiatsu. Then again, it could be the fact he almost drowned and the light bathed Isshin in a funny glow.

Isshin followed the doctor into the boy's room. The child was blinking at them owlishly; his floppy bangs making him look very cute. Isshin sat down on the chair. The child followed Isshin's movements.

"Ahem." The doctor cleared his throat, bringing all eyes to him. "Can you please tell me your name?"

The boy frowned. "Uhh…" He looked at Isshin before beckoning the man towards him. Isshin leaned in.

"I'm Aizen Sosuke." Said the boy softly.

Isshin hid his shock.

"You have to tell him my name this way, cause everyone looks at me funny when I say it outloud. " Said the boy solemnly, too solemnly for a boy his age, his eyes were far too old for his face.

Isshin nodded. "I will."

He got up and did as the boy said. The doctor nodded and left the room. When Isshin turned around, the boy was fast asleep. The day was tiring.

"Hello Isshin." Urahara stood in the doorway with Tessai.

"Urahara." Isshin said quietly. "Well, what do you think?"

Urahara walked over to the sleeping child. "It is indeed him." The shadows around his eyes deepened. "There is no doubt."

"So, what are you going to do?"

Urahara tapped his cane onto the ground. "Simple, we'll seal it up until we know what to do."

Tessai opened up the suitcase and took out a variety of tools. He placed them around the child and marked the ground. He did his work. The two former shinigami went outside, closing the door, insuring his privacy.

"How are you going to keep an eye on him?" Inquired Isshin. "I have no doubt the boy in there is Aizen Sosuke."

Urahara smiled lightly. "Hmm…that is a puzzler."

Isshin looked at Urahara slyly. "Maybe you can take him in."

Urahara chuckled before smacking Isshin on the shin. "I'm not a kid person. Besides I think you're a better candidate."

"I'm married Urahara." Mumbled Isshin. "How would Masaki react to having a kid?"

"Why don't you ask her?"

Isshin grumbled before fishing out his phone. Two short days later, one Aizen Sosuke was adopted into the Kurosaki household. It was hassle free and Masaki had fallen in love with the parentless boy.

The trio arrived at the clinic.

"Wow." The boy looked around the house and neighborhood. "So this is where I'm going to live?"

"Yep." Masaki gave him a quick peck on the cheek before getting some bags.

Isshin knealt down. "What's your name eh?" He grinned jovially at the boy.

Aizen grinned in return. "I'm Aizen Kurosaki!" He shouted, pleased to be able to announce it to the world. The light glinted off his glasses. It turned out he was near sighted.

The sun glittered, shining on his necklace. It was a gift from Isshin, his father. Little did Aizen know, it was a device from Tessai for it to regulate the seal placed on his reiatsu. The outside shell had his name engraved on it. The necklace itself was an anchor for the spell. Without the anchor the spell would still work but having a backup is always handy.

"Come on, lets get you a haircut. " Isshin brushed his adopted son's head. Aizen linked his hand with his adopted father and followed.

Months later, a baby boy was born into the household. His name was Ichigo Kurosaki. From there everything was a blur of happy moments and birthdays. Like a big brother should, Aizen teased him endlessly. When the two girls were born, he loomed over them, making sure any of the other boys won't make fun of them.

In his free time, he found Urahara and started bugging the shopkeeper endlessly. His brilliant mind and quick intuition knew Urahara had a link to the supernatural. He pestered Urahara endlessly, popping out of dumpsters, sneaking into the shop and his behavior was borderline obsessive.

Two equally stubborn people being stubborn was interesting to say the least.

In the end, Urahara only agreed to train Aizen a year after Masaki's death. From there it was a whirlwind of schoolwork, life, martial arts training and shinigami training.

It had all accumulated to this.

Materialization was easy and effortless. That wasn't the problem but the problem was the body. Who would be in control of the body if the mind is gone? That was why he initiated his shikai. Any who look, will see nothing.

That was the nature of the shikai.

Once eyes peer into onto the unreleased zanpakuto they will see only what Ai-ni wants to them to see. They will see nothing. He did not want interruptions.

Talking to his zanpakuto was delicate at first. It wasn't as if she was irritable or mean or vicious but just difficult. The first time they met, she was easily cowered, changing her appearance in accordance to whatever he wanted. She wanted to please him. A lot.

Any eleven year old boy would know that something was wrong, especially one raised by Isshin, one who was caring and thoughtful. Despite the rather hectic and somewhat bruise worthy life, Aizen came out as a well-rounded child. He could spot emotional trauma miles away. He might become a psychologist when he grew up.

Therapy was needed.

Together they got therapy. That itself was a problem. How could he get therapy without Isshin finding out? The crazy father would most likely blow it out of proportion. Firstly, he tried it by bringing a therapy book inside the mindscape.

That didn't exactly work. She would know the answer immediately and give him the answer that he expected or answers that were right. Therapy doesn't work like that. Therapy was peeling away at the trauma and bad memories and working into the person deep inside hidden by the shields. Coaxing the frightened being out and making them suitable for the outside world.

The next route was actually going to a therapist. That was hard to work around too. First was manifesting the zanpakuto. He can't really go there with a sword and trying to explain that he was concerned of his sword's mental state. And when he did finally managed to manifest the zanpakuto into human form, she looked too old for him. That would raise eyebrows and alarms. Also it took a lot of spiritual power to even manifest her in the first place. His necklace shattered after an extremely tiring try.

It wasn't as if he could ask Urahara for help. Mind you, Aizen was working around Urahara. He didn't want to disappoint his sensei by failing horribly. So he talked to her, daily, coaxed her out of her shell.

He referred to her as a she even though she can be whomever he wanted. But he wanted her to be someone who he can hug, who he can talk to. He didn't want her to be too intimidating. As he grew older, she grew older as he did. When he changed his hair, she did. He started reading other types of books so she would have something to do. Ichigo teased him when he caught Aizen reading some woman magazines while Yuzu thought it was so cool that her brother was getting in touch with his feminine side.

It was all worth it. All the effort, all the books and chick flicks. She grew out of her shell, and started changing her physical appearance to her own personal preference. She was being her own individual. She was a bitchy, tough and somewhat controlling individual. She also was extremely knowledgably and extremely willing to help him. She was ruthless at times, cold and manipulative.

In other words, she was like him.

He didn't know what happened in her past that traumatized her so but he wanted to help her. He also wanted to find the last wielder and beat that person's head in with a pipe. Aizen rarely got homicidal tendencies. Those tendencies were usually beaten down with ice cream sundaes.

Whenever he had a nightmare, she was there for him. Whenever he couldn't keep going on, she was there to push him on. During his time of need, she was there for him.

When she was relapsing back into her 'doll phase', he was there. He would always be there, always watching, always waiting, always lending an ear.

A true relationship between shinigami and zanpakuto is to two parts of the same side of the coin. They are partners in every definition of the word. They love as one and they mourn as one. At times, the zanpakuto can be more detached to the situation and at others; they are equally enraged as their other half.

In the mindscape, the two sat on their floating spoon chairs, looking at the complex seals that canvass the mindscape. One door was open and the other door was closed. The closed door was bigger than the other and covered with runes.

"So, are you ready?" She asked, drinking her tea.

Aizen shrugged. "Ready as I'll ever be." He indicated to the runes. "So this stuff as been in here ever since I was two?"

She nodded.

"Hmm…" Aizen tapped his chair idly with a finger. "I would recognize Urahara's work and brilliance. This is far more brilliant than anything I've ever seen him do."

"Ah, no matter." He continued, stretching out. "All you need to do is destroy it."

She smiled. "Of course."

KKKKKKKKKKK

Rukia stared at Aizen-taicho in shock as her two friends lie on the ground dying. She couldn't move, couldn't speak. That was how afraid she was of Aizen, of how ruthlessly he cut down the two shinigami and how calmly he explained his reasons for starting this whole farce.

Aizen, the supposedly dead captain, was alive and healthy. He was also the mastermind behind Rukia's execution. Aizen, the nice man, was actually very evil. He had hidden his true self underneath his smiles and nice words. His two subordinates stood behind him saying nothing.

Three captains. Three traitors and one who no one would have suspected at all.

"Stand up Rukia Kuchiki." He ordered, standing above her.

He reached for her collar, ready to pull her up and drag her but as his hands neared her it smacked into a shield.

"You are one sick puppy." Stated a voice a small boy in shinigami garb materialized before his eyes.

The shinigami in question was short, dark haired and not amused. Aside from his clothes, the only distinct thing about him was the single ear clip as decoration.

Aizen shattered the shield with a hand, staring down at the obstacle in his way. "Who are you?" He did not calculate for this to happen.

The boy ignored Aizen, peering around him to see Renji and Ichigo. Ichigo was awake and twitching. He was rather resilient for a person who sliced in two, with only his spin holding him together.

"Oy, Ichi are you okay?" The boy shouted, making Ichigo raise his head to look at the kid in shock.

"Who are you?" He asked befuddled and in pain.

The boy sighed in deep suffering and did not answer.

"He did as a valid question drifter." Stated Aizen, a mite bit ticked off at being ignored.

The boy rolled eyes back at Aizen. "My name is Kurosaki Aizen."

Rukia stared. Aizen blinked. Gin opened his eye for a fraction before closing it. Tousen was stock still as a statue. Ichigo hissed.

"We share a name." Aizen noted. "How repungent.

The boy snorted. "I totally agree, having a complete dick share my name gives me tremors all over."

"Ai-ni?" Ichigo asked a question in the air. "What are you doing here?"

"Saving your sorry ass that's what."

"What do you mean by that!" Snapped Ichigo.

"You went to Soul Society for a gril! A girl!" Snapped AI-ni. "And she's not even your girlfriend."

"She saved my life. I owed it to her." Ichigo answered automatically.

"Pssh." Ai-ni whapped himself on the forehead. "Seriously, what did happen when I was gone?"

"When were you a shinigami?" Ichigo knew his brother could see ghosts like himself but this?

Ai-ni twittered. "Uhh…a few years before you?" He answered weakly.

'What!"

"Amusing as this is, I do want you to move child." Aizen wasn't happy. He had an Orb to retrieve, people to demoralize and a new home to refurbish.

"You.." The boy vanished. "Should shut up."

Aizen slid back a few feet. The boy had kicked him in the chest, kicked him before he could dodge it. That said something about his skill. He was intrigued. He might as well have some fun before the others arrive. He won't hurt him too badly.

He drew his sword. He couldn't see the child but he knew who to target. Rukia's eyes widened as Aizen leapt at her, blade slashing downward.

The sound of metal hitting metal ringed in the air. The boy's blade intercepted Aizen's. He was blocking the older man with surprising power and precision.

Aizen inspected the boy. "You look oddly familiar. I just can't place where."

"Maybe I'm one of the kids you killed for your own ambitions." Ai-ni said tartly, pushing Aizen back with all his strength.

"Perhaps." Aizen merely smiled and attacked again. The boy blocked the first strike, parried the second and with a quick back slash drove Aizen back. A cut appeared on Aizen's face.

"You cut me." In his voice, there was a slight tinge of shock.

"Ya, that's what happens when a blade touches skin," Ai-ni said snidely. "Want to try again?"

"Your form is loose, there are holes but you are compensating." Aizen smiled his fake smile. "But you are no match for me."

"Shut your trap." Ai-ni went into a defensive stance. "Put your money where your mouth is."

"Very well."

Aizen disappeared from Rukia's eyes. But Ai-ni wasn't bothered at all. To Rukia, all she saw were flashes and the sound of blades coming together. It seems Ai-ni was able to keep up with Aizen, blocking his attacks.

"You are good." Aizen said, as the two separated. "Captain level at the very least."

More blade flashes and sounds of metal biting metal, blood dripped onto the floor from Ai-ni's wound.

"But your height is somewhat troubling. I do suspect you are bigger in your normal form." Aizen tilted his head. "You are the elder are you not?"

Their swords locked. "You can bring that up to Urahara-sensei." Ai-ni muttered dryly. "That is if he doesn't kill ya first."

"I am amazed you can keep up with me." Aizen noted. "Most cannot."

Ai-ni rolled his eyes. They clashed again. "Maybe it's because I can see what is obvious while everyone else is looking two steps behind?"

Rukia caught sight of a second Aizen, coming up from behind. "Look out!"

Ai-ni turned. Aizen swung down only to recoil quickly, dodging a back kick that spilt a leaf. The boy's foot was merely inches away from Aizen's face. The other Aizen was an illusion. "Isn't it great I closed my eyes?"

Aizen frowned. How did this drifter know of his zanpakuto. In fact the only person who knows about the true nature of it was the Unohana and her vice captain.

"It is time to end this."

Aizen blurred out of sight. He reappeared in front of Rukia, blade dripping in blood. "It seems your friend's bid to give you more time has not worked."

"Urk." Ai-ni fell onto his knees, blood spraying out from the slash wound. It seems Aizen was only toying with him. It was incredible how fast he had disappeared. His shunpo was insanely fast. Ai-ni was not going to lose here. His eyes caught the movement, his body moved to block it but he was too slow. It was time to break his promises.

"I am sorry, Urahara-sensei." He murmured and pulled the last limiter off. Deep in the mindscape, the runes were destroyed as the signal was sent. It was time to see what exactly Urahara had been hiding from him.

A column of pure reiatsu appeared, shooting up to the sky like a beacon. The wind warped and twisted around his figure and the rocks rose in the air. The air grew heavy while pressure doubled no tripled. This was his unreleased power. It flowed rapidly uncontrollable.

"Ah…how interesting." Aizen turned his head to gaze at Ai-ni. "How…familiar."

It took Ai-ni but seconds to take the power and put it under his control. It sank back into his body as his body changed. He grew in size and height. He grew older, stronger and had a longer arm reach. Adjusting to the power jump would take time he didn't have. Had he more time, then he would've been able to control his power.

But alas, like all Kurosaki's, he ran into the situation sword first.

Ai-ni was now what he looked like when he was in his body. The seventeen year old was lean and muscled. All the exercises he did and all the workouts gave him compact muscles and a high endurance rate.

His eyes were narrower, losing their child like innocence.

It was Tousen who realized it first. He saw the world through reiatsu and as he gazed and felt the strong reiatsu he immediately understood why it felt so familiar.

"Who are you really?" Whispered Aizen, as he too realized why the boy was so familiar. It seems his plans has gotten monkey wrenched for a brief time.

Ai-ni brandished his sword. "Urahara-sensei told me that if I wanted to strike I had to want to kill the person I was attacking." He looked at Aizen coldly. "I want to rip your entrails out and wrap them around a tree with you still attached. "

"To want to protect because Ichi's friends are my friends, Ichi's enemies are my enemies." Ai-ni grew frighteningly cold. "You are my enemy."

Through out this all, Aizen realized that perhaps his plan won't go off without a hitch after all. But he had to admit, it was amusing. It would have been boring explaining how he had easily hoodwinked everyone.

Breaking down this pale copy of himself would be even more fun. This would the first time he ever met a clone, a poorly flawed clone but a clone nevertheless. It had to be a clone, what else could it be?

KKKKKKKKK

All across Soul Society, Ai-ni's releasement of energy was felt. The shinigami were very confused. Two spiritual pressures of the same likeness? What was this?

Ichigo was equally confused. Not just on the name or the spiritual pressure but the fact that when he compared his Aizen to the other Aizen, they looked alike. If you gave Ai-chan the other haircut he would look exactly like Aizen. In fact, as a child he closely resembled this evil Aizen.

He wanted to get up and scream 'what is going on' but could not. His body was too battered. He was lucky to be alive. Had the blade sliced one inch deeper, he would be very dead.

Orihime and the others felt the second horrible powerful reiatsu. She wondered what had happened to the elder Kurosaki and now she had her answer. He was up there with Ichigo. "Please be safe, everyone." She whispered as the group ascended.

In the living world, Urahara stared at the broken necklace. A few seconds ago it had shattered completely.

"So, it is coming full circle." He stated, eyes lidded. "Don't mess up."

It is unknown to whom he was referring to.

KKKKKKKKKKKKK

Oh and um…Do you guys like it?

Show some appreciation for the chapter please, you know you want to do it.

smirks

Or else I'll sic both Aizen's on you!

BAUAHAHAHHAHA


	5. A fight

Dislcaimer: I do not own Bleach.

A/N: Thanks to all my splendid reviewers. I'm sorry it's going a little slow but I'm trying to explain Ai-ni's past as well put him into the timeline. Don't worry, everything is going to out of wack, very soon.

Also, due to spoilers, if you haven't gotten past the Rukia Rescue Arc, I'm really spoiling the story for ya.

Okay. It is epic. It is the fight.

I owe to the readers to draw this fight out to it's awesomeness. Like in several parts.

Sorry for the delay…had to work out the scene. Hope you guys like it.

(Edited parts of it)

KKKKKK

Ichigo coughed, fingers digging small furrows into the earth. He hated feeling helpless and right now, he was helpless, despite all his training and all his power he could not stand up to this monster before him. How could he protect those he loved if he could not even stand up?

He had the will it was just his body could not support him. Why couldn't he have regeneration powers? That would really have helped him right now. With regenerative abilities then he could stand up and fight again. It was for Rukia, for his pride and for his friends. He could not let them down.

All he had done, all he had worked out summed up to nothing. This Aizen, this shinigami, was leagues beyond him. It burned at his ego and his pride to be so easily defeated. How could this happen?

Maybe he got too cocky and Aizen just got past his defenses. But no matter how he looked at it, Ichigo knew that Aizen was beyond him power and ability. There was another level. He was going to reach it.

He focused his eyes on his brother. His brother was a shinigami. What's next? His father? Ichigo was tempted to laugh at that notion. His idiot of a father can't be a shinigami. He might as well suspected his brother was one.

Then again…..seeing how the evidence is blaringly clear now.

Of the two, Ai-ni too took martial arts vigorously and sword lessons with a great fervor greater than even Ichigo. Ichigo didn't even take sword lessons, preferring karate. It said something to Ichigo; something like his brother was in some sort of gang or joined an underground duel ring or something. Never had he ever suspected his brother knew about shinigami and hollows before him. His brother was too plain and unassuming to ever to be suspected about anything supernatural.

In truth, Ichigo acted more like the older brother than Ai-ni. Maybe it was because Ai-ni knew that Ichigo had to protect. It was his namesake after all. Just because you were born first doesn't mean you have to be first. After all, there was this famous saying of first in line is first to die or something like that.

Ai-ni was a pessimist at heart. If something will go wrong, it will. Optimism had no place in his mind for optimism was something that Ichigo had and he wasn't one to deprive Ichigo. He didn't need power or fame, he need his siblings, he needed Ichigo's unwavering courage and moronic prattling. It just felt right. He had to know everything in order for his plans to work, for his revenge to work.

That did not mean he was an emo or paranoid. He laughed; he cried and he glared at people when they pissed him off. Growing up in the Kurosaki household meant he seen some of the strangest things ever and still turned out rather normal. Well, as normal they can turn into when their father has a poster of the deceased mother and cries to it on a frequent basis.

That made Ai-ni happy to go to a different country, across a continent and a new school. It gave him perspective. It would be so much more fun if he hadn't met Them. But hey, that was a different story for a different time.

One would consider Ai-ni to a strange child. He had several seals in his soul and mind. Those seals weren't there for fun. They have done something to his mental development.

He never really noticed how the seal affected his mindset. During the process of the first, the oldest seal, it had made Swiss cheese of his memory banks. He was incomplete, so his mind naturally filled up the empty holes. What made Aizen Sosuke was now bits and pieces of Aizen Kurosaki and Aizen Sosuke. How else was he so distant? There were times he would stop what he was doing and try to grab at the snippet of distant memory that danced at the edge of his mind.

He never really knew where he came from so at times he would doubt his past. He would try to find out who his birth parents was and why he was left in the ocean. He also wanted to find out how royally screwed over his zanpakuto so he could punish them. Ai-ni cared greatly for his family. Mess with them, and you'll have one angry genius mad at you.

It was suppose to be this way. So that when the memories came back, if they come back, there will already be a strong personality and set of memories there so then they will merge and the one set of memories will be on top. There was caution to be had. Why would Aizen Sosuke regress into a child, his power intact but no memories what so ever? Especially when there was another Aizen Sosuke in Soul Society?

Exactly.

All this was done behind his back, when they first found him. When he went to Urahara again they reinforced what they already had and changed it. They also found the original seal and didn't tamper with it. That seal was a work of several high skilled kidou masters. When he finally broke the seal, all his power came back first. His brain had to find equilibrium all over again and his reiatsu was fluctuating like mad.

He had to pin it down with his will, shove it deep into his core and hoped he wouldn't make any mistakes. Right now, he couldn't exactly control it. He was certain that he used all his power; he could annihilate the hill entirely. He had pure, raw power pulsating under his skin, glowing faintly in his eyes. He was dangerous! Yes he was.

If it only weren't for the building headache was having right now.

His head felt like someone ran it over with a steamroller. He wanted no more than to sit down and get an ice pack. Ai-ni really wasn't in the mood to fight. It seems all the travel and time zones caught up with him. Either that or it was the bean burrito he ate for breakfast.

Ai-ni clutched the right side of his face as a lancing pain appeared. He felt something was creeping up his side, latching onto to him with needle like fingers. He flared his reiatsu in response, making the ground break into pieces.

He took deep stabilizing breaths before looking at Aizen, his eyes darkening. Stupid seals. Stupid Urahara. Stupid Aizen for making him to such a stupid stunt without medics on hand.

Stupid.

Stupid.

Stupid.

There were days in which Ai-ni wondered if he was channeling Ichigo.

Whenever Ai-ni tries to master his powers, he never could. He was always fighting with a quarter of a deck, quarter of his heart, quarter of his power. So now, with all this power, all these strange feelings, he was in no shape to be killing anybody. His job right now was to make sure Ichigo, Rukia and the red pineapple didn't get offed by accident by the crazy older twin person.

"My resolve is to string you up by your intestines." After he spoke his rather dark words, Ai-ni paused. "I'm sorry. Today has been a really stressful day."

"You see I have low blood pressure and I hate getting up in the morning." Ai-ni explained. "So I got really pissed off that and I just want to crush your skull and watch your head cave in on itself as your eyeballs pop like grapes."

He paused. "Crud." He sighed. "Stupid Jet lag."

"Side affects." Noted Aizen. "From whatever suppressant you were taking."

Ai-ni peered at Aizen. "You know something about it?"

Aizen tutted at him as if he was a child. "Why should I tell you?"

"Cause that's what good people do?" The sardonic tone in his voice was easy to detect. "Then again, good people don't try to bisect other people's little brother.

Aizen merely smiled. Ai-ni felt shivers run up his spine. The person before him was a crazy bastard. Someone who you really shouldn't cross. Just like him, but more homicidal.

"Ni-sama!" Ichigo shouted out, catching his older brother's attention. "Aren't you blind without your glasses?"

That was random. Really.

Ai-ni scratched his head with his free hand. "Uh yeah. I am." He frowned. "Turns out my human body is really blind while my shinigami self has perfectly fine vision."

"Does that really work?"

Ai-ni shrugged. "Well, I'm not wearing my glasses…so yeah."

He flickered, reappearing behind Aizen, spell on his lips," Byakurai."

The bolt of lightning fires from his forefinger only to pass through Aizen, bastard was still smirking, and into the air, it was an illusion. He heard the whooshing sound of blade cutting air, dangerously close to his head. With his other hand, he caught the blade, the sharp edges cutting into his skin.

It was then that he heard it, through his mind, a strange echo of sorts, a void of thought and emotion. There was no thrumming, no energy but Aizen, no other being. How puzzling.

"Can't you hear it?" Ai-ni asked.

"Hear what?" Aizen didn't hear anything but the persistent buzzing of fly that needs to be swatted.

Ai-ni paused before groaning. "Never mind." That was just stupid, he thought pushing away the blade and jumping apart, hand dripping in blood.

The two stared at each other, each scrutinizing each other.

Ai-ni decided to out on a limb, he needed to stall for time. "I think I know your fear. You know the thing that when you're training your zanpakuto tells you not to be afraid of and in the end you are able to hear your zanpakuto's name?"

Aizen paused, amused at his audacity.

Ai-ni took a deep breath. "You're scared of…" Oh crap, what is this jerk scared of? "Of being forgotten, of vanishing into history without a footnote next to your name. It's not whatever you're doing right now but the fact that no matter what you do you will be forgotten. All your work, all that you have done, nothing will come of it. But as…uhh…" Ai-ni paused again. What is so great that nobody will forget? " As God, there is no chance of that happening. That is your fear. It is not out there and it's very underneath the underneath, hidden behind all the intellect and plans. That's why you're doing everything with great aplomb. Cause deep deep deep down inside, you want the power not just because it's power but because people will remember you."

He took the plunge. "I have news for you. Tyrants come and tyrants go. What you do here, today? It will amount to nothing because it is insignificant. If you die, if you lose time will continue, lives will continue, the dead will be mourned and things rebuilt. Life goes on."

Ai-ni waited. Aizen made a low chuckling sound. "So then what do you fear eh Ai-ni?"

Ai-ni's eyebrows knitting together before speaking. "I fear." He paused and repeated those words before continuing. "I fear that despite everything I do, everything I try I will be unable to keep a hold on those I cherish the most."

Aizen leveled a look at Ai-ni, a look that said 'you're lying' before speaking, "I see."

"Anyways…" Ai-ni turned his attention back at Aizen only to look up. "Oh wow."

Aizen did not look up. He was no fool. Besides, he could feel the raging reiatsu. What foolish moves his former colleagues make. It is no wonder he was able to manipulate them so.

A huge fox dropped out of the sky, his sword slashing downward on his target.

"Aizen!" Screamed the fox, as he swung downward, creating a huge explosion. Unfortunately for the target and for the fox, it was the wrong target.

"What the fuck!" Shouted Ai-ni, catching the fox's gigantic blade with his own, diverting the energy away from himself. It crushed into the ground, making a V- shape with Ai-ni at the crux.

The fox was physically strong and had enormous reiatsu. What the hell did he get himself into? How the hell did this happen? How did he get from one place to another without his consent? Did his body want to die?

Ai-ni strained against the blow. "Oy, what's your problem fuzz ball captain?" He had no clue why the captain attacked him.

"Aizen you will not trick me with your deceit." The fox didn't seem to happy.

A huge metal hand fell out of the sky, rocketing towards Ai-ni. He shunpo'd out of the way, cursing as he did. Aizen must've done something to make the fox man believe he was Aizen. This was unfair. Even if they do look similar, it doesn't mean they are. The captain was a freaking fox, surely he had better vision. And the nose! Don't get him started on the nose.

It wasn't as if they were twins or anything.

Ai-ni landed a few feet away, irritated enough to yell at the fox captain.

"For all your lies and all your betrayals, I will show you no mercy!" The fox captain seemed very enraged.

He cast his gaze to Tousen and Gin. "Do you have anything to say for yourself Tousen?" Tousen was silent. "Nothing?" He sounded almost disappointed. "How disappointing Tousen" Now he sounded enraged.

"Ban Kai!"

Ai-ni gulped. Oh. Shit.

Komarmura, the fox captain, glanced down as his Ban Kai started to appear and saw Aizen. Multude of thoughts whirled in his head. Wasn't Aizen just a few feet away from him? How could this happen? His eyes flickered to the other Aizen, just in time to see the illusion fade away to reveal a teenager who was decidedly not Aizen.

But their reiastu are the same!

"Blast Spell: Ninety." Aizen held out a hand as black lines appeared. "Kurohitsugi."

A black box appeared, surrounding Komamura and stabbing into him.

Pain.

"Oh. Crap." Muttered Ai-ni watching as a captain was taken down effortlessly. He knew what that spell was and also knew that it takes a lot of skill to have the spell work without the chanting. He knew they were in deep shit. Ai-ni could only say destructive spells up to 80 without the chant and binding spells up to 90. He had six long ass years to learn things. Might as well do some things to the best it can be done. Everything else took a ridiculously long time to chant.

He heard clapping sounds. "Thank you, Ai-ni for helping me." It was a slow mocking sound. It grated on Ai-ni's ears.

Rukia was safe, well relatively safe, in Gin's fingers. As Komamura slashed down, Aizen was gracious enough to take her with him when he vanished. He had switched himself with Ai-ni, leaving the young shinigami to his fate. If he survived. Good. If he didn't. Good. No matter, he had bigger fish to fry, as they would say.

Aizen side swiped Ai-ni, nearly catching the youth unaware, creating a cut above his left eyebrow. The youth caught the second slash but was unable to deflect the third one fully. Another mark was made. The two blades clashed, sparks flying as they made contact. Out of the seven attacks, he was able to block four and three got through his defense, marring the left side of his face. Ai-ni blinked out blood from his left eye, as he blocked and dodged the sword thrusts that were close to marring his body. If he thought before, Aizen was fast, it was incomparable to now.

"There is a difference between power and skill." Aizen said in a lecture mode. "Even if you are a clone of me you are lacking in some of the more rudimental education. I believe Urahara didn't teach them to you, he was an incompetent teacher despite his genius. And there can only be one Kyoka Suigetsu. "

A hilt in the gut sent Ai-ni flying, his grip on his sword slackened. In mere seconds, he adjusted himself, keeping his balance on the ground but the damage was done his zanpakuto in Aizen's hands.

"It is a good copy. It almost fooled me." Aizen remarked. "Useless." He whirled the sword before tossing it straight up. Ai-ni followed the sword and his eyes widened as it fell away from the hill.

Rage engulfed Ai-ni as he trembled. He could hear her yell as she was sent off the cliff. He had to go after her. He wanted to run and with a powerful leap, jump off the cliff, and follow his sword's descent. But he couldn't. Abandoning the battle only meant death to his brother and his brother's friends. What kind of brother does that?

Aizen was wrong. Kyoka Suigetsu was no copy, was no second. She was Kyoka Suigetsu. She was a zanpakuto that can entrance others and make them believe whatever he wanted them to believe.

She hated being alone. He could not abandon her. Not after everything they had gone through.

All these thoughts raced through his head as his hands clenched and a very low growl reverted through his throat.

"Sosuke-chan." He spat, not wanting to repeat the name, not wanting to say anything that connected to him. "You are one dead bastard."

He launched himself at Aizen, fist pulled back. His fist flew forward, connecting with the ground, missing his intended target. His speed was too slow. He ducked, as a blade flashed above him, spinning on his heel he lashed out with an elbow only to have it blocked by a palm.

Ai-ni jerked his head to the side, dodging a forward thrust, receiving a slight cut to the cheek before leaping down to the ground and preformed a leg sweep. His leg met air, and he rolled to the side as a blade sunk into the ground. He flipped upright, spinning his body clockwise horizontally, body already in balance.

He hated fighting in shinigami clothes. He wanted a pair of jeans right now, maybe shorts. Really. It was just too drafty for his tastes. It was almost like wearing a dress.

He knew this would be a fight he would most likely not win. He knew he was outclassed, outmatched and outnumbered. He fought because it felt right. He fought because he knew that if he gave up, there would be no tomorrow. He fought because he knew that he had been underestimated, all bark no bite. He will show this egomaniac is not all bark and no bite.

He flipped backwards, as a sword slash intent on cutting him in half missed his spine by inches. It did make a stinging cut, from one end of his torso to the other. He blocked a slash with his fist, the knuckles bashing onto the zanpakuto's flat side. Ai-ni could clearly hear the crack as his bones fractured from the force. He jumped up, landing on the blade itself before pulling his leg back to kick Aizen in the face.

A hand grabbed his ankle before he could connect, twisting it, making Ai-ni flip end over end before landing on his back, breath shoved out of his chest. Like lightning, he got back on his feet, ready to attack once more.

A hand tapped his chest and sent him flying with a push. That push was accompanied by a kidou spell to the chest that sounded familiarly easy and without a chant. In response, Ai-ni retorted with his own spell that caught the destructive power of Aizen's kidou spell protecting him from the blunt of the attack. But the sheer power of that spell sent him straight through a hard pillar and straight down off the cliff.

The entire fight lasted only a minute. All the punches, the kicks, the pain were recieved and given in a span of seconds. That just showed how powerful Aizen was, how much Aizen transcended the bars set for shinigami. It was only due to Ai-ni's borderline obsessive training and workout habits that he was able to even keep up with Aizen.

The explosion of pain as his ribs cracked and the ribs in his back cracked almost simultaneously sent jaded spikes of torture up his brain. The long fall and the crash through a building, only made him spit out blood as a rib punctured his lung. Had he been human, he would be dead within minutes due to blood loss.

Ai-ni crawled out of the broken mess of what used to be a roof and propped himself up against a wall. Now his survival depended on him keeping himself alive, waiting for healers and making sure nothing sharp or heavy lands anywhere near his head.

Always look forward, do not look back. Stand strong and tall, firm grounded and sways with the wind. Don't get uprooted, don't get disillusioned. Don't make a box to live in, don't fortify your castle. Be prepared to move like nomads through a tundra. There is no one ground, there are many. You are the illusionist, and no one tricks you. Fear is an illusion. What stops a person is themselves and their own boundaries. Seek the moon in the stars not in the pond for its reflections are empty and hollow. There is no substance. All this, ran through his head, a mantra to keep himself conscious.

Life expectancy is linked to the will to live. That is why depression isn't really a good thing to have. Ai-ni stuck on one thought in his mind. The will to live, the will to see Kyoka Suigetsu again, the will to give Ichigo a noggie. The will to yell at Ichigo for doing such a hair brained scheme. The girl must really be something…then again Ichigo was always somebody he protected others. He kept his mind on things that made life living and why he really shouldn't die because regret was a painful thing to go through.

Also losing all his memories and reliving his life was too much effort and too much of a waste of his time. There was his first broken brick, his first attempt at flying and failing miserably, his first black eye, his first failure and his first success.

Heck, he didn't get to have sex yet so that was something to look forward to. Now that he was on the topic of things he didn't do, he never really gave anyone a swirly whirly or smacked a girl or even totaled his first car.

As his thoughts swirled in his mind, bringing the loud roar of pain into a dull throbbing, he started thinking back on kissing a girl. Kissing a girl…..

As his mind floated about through images of kissing a girl it narrowed on the image of Masaki. She was a wonderful woman, raising him up like he was one of her own. When she died, he was devastated. She was a good person. Why do bad things happen to good people?

Why?

As the thoughts went swirly, they turned orange and grey. That girl. He couldn't get his mind off that girl. There was a bruning feeling in his chest, a strange want to know the girl to speak to her. He felt admiration, pity and satisfaction. That girl brought on such strange emotions from him. His on and off dating with the girls at his school didn't seem to fill in the emptiness in him. Not until he met that girl.

Inoue Orihime.

KKKK

A sword fell through the air before sticking in the ground, hilt parallel to the ground. The shinigami crowded around the blade, wondering whose it was. They knew it was a zanpakuto of a shinigami and so, in careful thought, took it and decided to tell their squad captain after this fiasco was over. After all, as long as the zanpakuto is still there, that means the shinigami is still alive.

The unseated shinigami kept the sword with him until he was able to report to his captain.

"Ukitake-taicho," The shinigami bowed. "One of the shinigami had dropped his zanpakuto."

Ukitake looked up from his work, eyes blinking in confusion. "Do you know whose?"

The shinigami shook his head before showing his esteemed captain.

Ukiitake's eyes boggled from his head.

"Captain?" Asked the worried shinigami.

Ukitake slowly took the zanpakuto before turning. "Make sure none spoken here passed here spoken again unless ordered to."

"Yes sir."

Ukitake had to go see the Captain-General on a very important matter.

In his hands was Kyoka Suigetsu in sealed form, Aizen's zanpakuto. There was no mistake of the shape. The question was what was Aizen's zanpakuto doing here? Would this answer why there was two similar reiatsu signatures?

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AI-ni opened groggy eyes to see a familiar orange spiky head. "Hey, Ichi."

Ichigo sat up. "Hey dolt."

Ai-ni struggled to sit up before falling back down. "Ow."

"Like I said, dolt."

Ai-ni peered at Ichigo before grimacing. "What's with the clothes? Whatever happened to what you were wearing last time?"

"No it's my Bankai form."

"Ohhh…" Ai-ni paused. "What?"

"You don't know what Bankai is?" Ichigo asked incredulous. Just when he thought his older brother was smart, it turns out he really wasn't.

"Well…" Ai-ni shrugged. "I never tried Bankai."

Ichigo scowled. "Loser."

"Afro head."

"Urchin head."

"Citrus."

"Dumbass, a strawberry isn't a citrus."

A smirk came to Ai-ni's lips. "Strawberry.'

"Twit."

"Virgin."

Ichigo sputtered for a few minutes. He calmed himself down. "So how long have you been a shinigami?"

Ai-ni closed his eyes, drifting away. "Around six years…you?"

Ai-ni didn't heard Ichigo's indignant squawk as he passed out again.

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Oh and um…Do you guys like it?

Show some appreciation for the chapter please, you know you want to do it.

smirks

Or else I'll sic both Aizen's on you!

BAUAHAHAHHAHA


	6. Captain's meeting

Dislcaimer: I do not own Bleach.

A/N: Thanks to all my splendid reviewers. I'm sorry it's going a little slow but I'm trying to explain Ai-ni's past as well put him into the timeline. Don't worry, everything is going to out of wack, very soon.

Also, due to spoilers, if you haven't gotten past the Rukia Rescue Arc, I'm really spoiling the story for ya.

I feel so cold from the lack of reviews for the last chapter...sniff

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'How did I end up here?' thought Ai-ni, walking past the two lines of captains, assured only by Yourichi-sama's presence.

He stood in front of the Captain Commander, his throat growing dry and all the worst case scenarios running around in his head.

"Welcome." Said the Captain Commander in a not welcoming tone.

"Hi." Ai-ni responded, his voice squeaking a little.

The Captain Commander looked at Ai-ni, his eyes like lasers trying to burn away at his image. "State your name."

"Kurosaki Aizen." Ai-ni said nervously, noting the stiffening postures and rustling sounds.

"From Captain Unohana's report, you are an exact replica of Aizen Sosuke. Is it not true?"

"Yes...sir?" He added in the last bit, afraid that the old man may burn him for not being respectful.

"Show us your zanapkuto."

Ai-ni drew Kyoka Suigetsu, the soft ringing tone of blade soothing his wracked nerves.

"And now, your shikai." At this, the other captains seemed ready to draw their zanpakuto in case he turned out to be a mole or assassin or Aizen himself.

None of this helped his nerves at all. "Don't worry." Whispered Yourichi in his ear, giving him a reassuring squeeze on the shoulder.

"Kudakero Kyōka Suigetsu."

The world rippled as the captains watched a tree grow from the ground and sprouting cherry blossoms. They knew they were in the hypnosis due to the fact that trees don't grow that fast.

"Absolute Hypnosis." Ai-ni said, explaining to those who weren't conscious when Aizen revealed himself. "What you see, feel and all your senses are enraptured once you see the release. Your own mind works against you, filling in whatever holes appear. It is the ultimate illusion. The only way to avoid it, is to not see it at all."

"Your Bankai." This whole display was to prove not only that the person in front of them is Aizen but also so that when they have to fight they would have the upper hand.

"Ah.." Ai-ni shook his head slowly. "I have not yet developed Ban Kai."

He canceled the illusion, as the cherry tree faded away.

"Why is that?"

"I have never been in a situation where my shikai could not defeat my opponent and..." He looked down on the ground before staring at the Captain Commander resolutely. "She's my friend. I don't want to dominate her besides it's not like you guys can beat my shikai anyways."

Absolute silence.

"May I suggest I get time to examine Kurosaki Aizen?" Asked Mayuri, his tone sickeningly sweet. "I am sure I can find out more things than this useless questioning."

"Yeah. Right." Ai-ni said sarcastically. "I heard of you, I'm not letting you near me with a two hundred feet pole."

Before Mayuri could strike the insolent youth, Ukitake coughed bringing the impending fight to a halt. In his mind, all Ukitake could think of was how it all led to this, a captain's meeting and Aizen.

A few hours ago, he was very perplexed. Ukitake didn't know what to do. He sat in his office, a cup of tea in his hand and his best friend drinking sake.

"We can chuck it." Offered his slightly drunk best friend and fellow captainShunsui Kyoraku.

The sickly captain shook his head. "That won't solve anything."

The door slid open and in walked Unohana, a grave look on her face. She immediately spotted the sword and recognized the significance.

"Ah, Unohana-senpai want some sake?"

Unohana shook her head and sat down. "I have some news that I wanted to run by the two of you. The other captains are still injured or helping with fixing up the damage. I cannot go to the Captain General due to the sensitivity of the message."

The two captains looked at Unohana intrigued. "Does it have anything to do with that?" Ukitake indicated to the unsheathed blade.

Unohana nodded.

"What is it?"

She took a deep breath, eyes closed. "Kurosaki Aizen is a match for all the files I have on Aizen Sosuke."

There was silence.

"I see." Murmured Ukitake, eyes narrowed. "That would explain why this blade is a perfect copy of the one Aizen has."

"Not a replica but the real thing." Corrected Unohana. "It is the same situation as Toshiro's zanpakuto. While it is rare for two shingami to have the same zanpakuto it has occurred."

Another pause.

"What are we going to do? The old man won't take this well and Mayuri would want to stick the kid in a test tube." For once brilliant insight was given from the drunken captain. "We can't hide it either."

"Perhaps it would help if the two of you actually met the child it would help with your decision making."

The two captains looked at each other. "Sure."

Unohana stood. "Come and bring the zanpakuto as well."

Ukitake took the blade, sliding it into his sash, next to his own zanpakuto. The trio walked towards the fourth division where the group of ryoka were stationed. After Aizen left, taking the two captains with him there were many people who needed to be healed. Thankfully no one died and all their wounds were treatable.

"Ukitake-san." Ichigo noticed them immediately waving.

The group stopped what they were doing to also wave and say their hellos. Ichigo turned his head, looking for his dear depressed brother before dragging said older brother in front of the group.

"This is my brother." He said, leaning on his brother's head. "He's just a bit down due to losing his zanpakuto."

His brother made a disgruntled sound.

"Losing one's zanpakuto is like losing a piece of their soul." Unohana explained. "One's soul cutter is representation of themselves. It cannot be replaced."

Ukitake smiled broadly at the young man. "Here, one of my squad members found it." He drew out the zanpakuto.

The boy looked up, his face made Ukitate pause mid draw. When Aizen broke his glasses and slicked his hair back, not only was the illusion broken the face of a gentle man became that of a sinister villain. He felt betrayed, the man he had worked with for nearly a century was actually plotting all their deaths.

The boy's brown eyes were distant and very familiar. His hair was fortunately not slicked back with one piece of hair sticking in the front. He looked like a vice captain version of Aizen when he served under Captain Shinji. Now that he could actually compare two different and yet exactly the same facial structure he can actually tell the difference.

He finished withdrawing the blade. "I do believe this is yours."

The boys face brightened up. With a quick lunge, the sword was slipped out of Ukitake's grasp. He was then smothered in a hug. "Thanks."

Ukitake patted his back. "Glad to be of service."

This moment of mutual affection was dispersed as the teenager leapt back brushing off any loose dirt off his clothes. The dull sword now gleamed with a shiny coat.

"We're here to talk to your brother Kurosaki-kun." Ukitake said politely to Ichigo, he had immense respect for the ryoka. "Privately."

Ichigo raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

Ukitake laughed. "I just wanted to talk to him."

"Uh. Huh." Ichigo sighed. "Sure, don't break a leg or nothing." He stood.

The group followed Ichigo leaving Ai-ni alone with the three captains.

Ai-ni looked at the three before speaking. "I think I know why you're here. Right?" He scuffed the ground with a foot. "I'm not stupid. I know our reiatsu feels the same and that we even look similar...but I wasn't there, I was nursing a few broken ribs when he went all Psycho on you guys."

He shrugged. "I heard the news too and now I know our zanpakuto's are the same..." Ai-ni looked up at them, looking utterly lost and scared. "I think I am Aizen Sosuke."

Anything else was lost when a hell butterfly appeared. It landed on his finger giving him the message: Captain's meeting. Bring Kurosaki Aizen.

Ukitake's thoughts rounded back again, as the two lines of captains looked at Kurosaki Aizen.

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Oh and um...Do you guys like it? Euk...this was kinda..choppy...a bit. Please bear with me.

Show some appreciation for the chapter please, you know you want to do it.

smirks

Or else I'll sic both Aizen's on you!

BAUAHAHAHHAHA


	7. A day in Soul Society

Dislcaimer: I do not own Bleach.

A/N: Thanks to all my splendid reviewers who review for every chapter! THANKS.

Also, due to spoilers, if you haven't gotten past the Rukia Rescue Arc, I'm really spoiling the story for ya.

I feel so cold from the lack of reviews for the last chapter...sniff

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The meeting ended on strange notes. Nothing was done seeing how not all the captains were there and nothing could really be done. AI-ni thought they were going to put him away in jail or let Mayuri experiment on him but thankfully they didn't.

It just ended.

Ai-ni knew that he was evil or something close to it. He knew that if he really wanted to, he could kill a lot of people and get away with it. He always knew that, but now he kinda of knew why. He sat on the roof, staring at the sky and lost in thoughts.

That was why he was unprepared for the attack.

"Candy!"

A pair of feet landed on his chest, knocking the wind out of him. He went down like a ton of bricks. Ai-ni fell off the roof to land on the floor. "Ooof."

"Candy!!" The pink shinigami started groping Ai-ni looking for candy. She had no shame.

On his part, he shook himself, trying to fling her off him. After several fruitless shakes, she jumped off looking disappointed. "Aw, you don't have any candy."

Ai-ni sighed. "Why would I have candy in the first place?"

"Dunno." The pink haired shinigami smiled. "I know you from before with the big booby lady. "

Ai-ni scratched his head. "Yachiru the vice captain of the eleventh, right?"

Yachiru nodded. 'Unhuh."

She jumped onto his shoulder and looked at him intensely. "Want to play?"

"Uhh..." Ai-ni noted that he was going 'uhh' a lot lately. "Sure?"

Instincts were clearly telling him saying no was a bad idea.

Two minutes later, Ai-ni found himself holding a bucket of glue while Yachiru had a pillowcase of feathers. Their target was the short captain of the tenth. The recently recovered captain of the tenth, who, in Yachiru's opinion, needed to be cheered up. Ai-ni had no clue how getting feathers glued onto oneself made one happy. He didn't voice his opinion because he didn't want to get feathered either.

The two were perched on the roof, waiting for Toshiro to walk out of fourth division. Toshiro had business there. He was also absent for the last captain meeting. Ukitake had covered for him. Toshiro didn't want to talk about the events that occurred a few scant hours ago.

It was too painful.

He walked out, after bidding the still comatose Hinamori. The bastard Aizen did a lot of damage to his childhood friend. Toshiro couldn't wait to find Aizen and kill him viciously.

As these murderous thoughts swirled in his head, he was unprepared for a goopy white substance to fall on his hair and body. He was equally unprepared for the shower of white things that floated onto him.

"What..is this?" He touched his goopy hair and realized that it was glue. "The hell!"

He looked up to see a giggling Yachiru and a unknown shinigami standing next to her looking guilty with a bucket in his hands. At first glance, Toshiro thought the second shinigami seemed familiar.

Ai-ni gulped when the young captain leveled a glare at Yachiru. Even though the glare wasn't aimed at him, he could feel it. Ai-ni chanced a glance at Toshiro, and his eyes nearly widened to the size of saucers as his eyes went up. Floating behind Toshiro was a huge dragon with blood red eyes.

Ai-ni's body went postal, as his mind dredged up faint images. For some reason, he wanted to run and regroup and think. He needed to get away. So he left, without a word, via shunpo kicking up enough air to blow Toshiro's newly acquired feathers in a more artistic design.

'What was that' wondered inwardly Toshiro before starting to yell at Yachiru for dumping all the feathers on him. As he yelled, he questioned Hyourinmaru in his decision to manifest without permission. Hyourinmaru said nothing but rumble in the mindscape.

Meanwhile, Ai-ni had stopped, taking huge breaths trying to stop his hammering heart. If this had occurred a few days ago, he wouldn't have understood this reaction but now he did. Something with Aizen-bastard-evil-past-incarnation was involved. But what?

While he mused, Ai-ni almost smacked into somebody. "Be careful, you might fall." Said a very warm voice.

Ai-ni looked a little bit down to see Unohana looking up at him. "Oh, sorry about that." He shuffled to the side.

Unohana looked at Ai-ni and then at he bucket. "What is that?"

"Whuh?" Ai-ni looked down to see the bucket. "Oh, that." He paused. "Stuff. "

"I see." Unohana smilied gently. "Do you want to help me?"

"Sure." Ai-ni nodded.

"Follow me then please."

Ai-ni followed Unohana back the direction he came from. By the time they got there, Toshiro and Yachiru were gone leaving only a white sticky puddle on the ground and some feathers.

The rest of the day passed as Ai-ni helped Unohana with some of the simplier things. Cleaning, getting supplies and breaking up fights. The latter was harder due to the obstinacy of the eleventh division.

As he was cleaning up the floor after yet another food toss by another irate eleventh divison member, Ai-ni swished and swashed all the way to a darkened room. He peered inside to see a girl attached to machines. Curiosity overcame him, and he tiptoed into the room itself leaving his broom and mop outside.

The young female shinigami looked at peace. Then again, all coma patients looked like that. Ai-ni crept closer and placed a hand on her. Like the incident before with Toshiro. He hadn't meet him before but he already had select feelings. With her, it was mostly smugness. Ai-ni fought down a smirk that was growing on his face.

Oh, he hated the fact he was a former incarnations or something of an evil jerk.

He hated it so much, he punched the bed forgetting that the shinigami was still in it and she was injured. The machines went wacko for a brief second before calming down. Ai-ni decided that now would be a good time to run away before he gets into trouble.

"Aizen-sama?" Came a weak voice.

Ai-ni turned to see the girl, sitting up, looking around the room with blood shot eyes.

"Aizen-sama?"

He stayed frozen, waiting for the girl to fall back to sleep. As he left, the giril was still murmuring the name 'Aizen-sama'.

It was nighttime when he left. He jumped to the roof, walking slowly staring up at the sky. He saw the moon in all its glory. As he walked, he cast his gaze down catching the sight of on Inoue Orihime. She looked lonesome staring at the sky. She was also crying.

He jumped down next to her. Perhaps he could be of service.

"Hi."

She punched him on the nose.

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Short too...Short.

Oh and um...Do you guys like it? Euk...this was kinda..choppy...a bit. Please bear with me.

Show some appreciation for the chapter please, you know you want to do it.

smirks

Or else I'll sic both Aizen's on you!

BAUAHAHAHHAHA


	8. Ending of an Era Arrancar ARc coming up

"Ow." Ai-ni held his broken nose with both hands.

"I'm so sorry." Orihime twittered around frantically, pulling out a tissue for Ai-ni to use.

He tilted his head up, putting the tissue on his nose. After a few seconds he wiped his nose.

"Did I break anything?" Orihime asked shyly.

"Naw." Ai-ni sniffed several times. "I think I'm good."

They stared at each other awkwardly and then at the bloody tissue. "You're illusion is still on." Orihime started.

"Huh? This? Oh this isn't an illusion anymore." He rubbed his nose with a thumb. "I released a limiter and now I'm stuck like this."

He fished out the limiter. "It's broken and I don't trust Captain Clown to not tamper with it."

They sat. "So, why were you crying?"

"It's nothing."

"Nothing is nothing and no one cries without a reason."

"I'm weak. And….all I'm good for is to cheer the rest of my friends on." It was easy to admit her own weakness but harder to admit it others.

"You're not weak." Ai-ni scuffed the ground with his foot.

"Thank you." Her quiet voice

His voice was equally as quiet as he spoke. "You don't have to be alone. A long time ago I thought I was weak too."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Ichigo…Ichigo was that way too, always sad. He thought he could be strong by holding all that emotion in but…it didn't work." Ai-ni looked at Orihime kindly. "I think you are strong, not because of your powers but because you are willing to support your friends and run into danger for them even when you can be normal."

Orihime blushed. "Thanks."

He nodded his head several times. "And besides, power doesn't mean strength." He paused and then continued. "But if you want, I can help train you."

Orihime's hug engulfed him. "Thank you."

This was how the friendship between two somewhat complete strangers.

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"Now there is two of them." Gin noted to Tousen as they settled into Los Noches.

"Yes. There is." Toushen replied as dryly as he ever replied

"Yep."

"Yep."

Now they were sounding like rednecks with beer.

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"It is simple. We will keep an eye on the substitute shinigami."

"And of the clone?"

"Regarding the twelfth division request to dissect him, no but we need to see what the bankai is. This will help us during the war."

"And if he turns?"

"Kill him." There is no need for two Aizen's.

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"This is my brother. He's an idiot." Ichigo proclaimed to the rest of the gang.

Smack.

He got a punch to the head for his trouble. Ichigo retaliated.

The gang looked at each other. "Well that was a short introduction." Ishida noted as he filled in to the rest of the group. "But then again, what else could you expect from fools?"

Rukia nodded in agreement.

No one, outside of the Gotei 13 knew Ai-ni's troubled past history. It was still uncertain how this version appeared in this world. Nothing could be said or done yet.

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Time passed. People trained. Soul Society rebuilt itself. Ai-ni's relationship with Orihime progressed. Life settled.

Then it was time to go.

Ai-ni left while Urahara and Ichigo's gang reconciled, he jumped down to the streets. Whatever occurred, whatever events happened to lead to this invasion it didn't involve him. He wasn't that nosey. His brother had his own things to deal with. That's what growing up is like.

Ichigo grew up. And sometimes you have to let go.

Ai-ni smirked to himself as he went home. Even if Ichigo did grow up, did mature, he was still the little brother. There was hell to pay for rushing into danger for a girl. He envisioned himself dumping a buck of soapy water on Ichigo on one very chilly morning.

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A/N: And so starts the Arrancar ARC!!! Sorry for the rushing. Sorry for not updating. I'll start on the Ulquihime as soon as I can. And the odd AiUlquiHimeAi triangle.


	9. Getting in trouble in style

A/N: And let the crack commence. Watch out Aizen, Ichigo's big brother is crazy. You can't predict crazy. Or Urahara, that man knows no bounds and knows no affairs he has not stuck his nose in.

It's a good thing.

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"So what's with this?" Ai-ni indicated to the clothes. They were clothes that one would wear on a Saturday jaunt in the park.

"It's all part of the plan." Urahara laughed behind his fan looking at his student with his shadowy eyes.

"Bullshit." He tugged at them before leaning forward. "You know I don't like shinigami clothes but this? This is just plain weird."

Urahara folded his fan up with a snap. "This will help you. Trust me."

Ai-ni considered those words. "Of course I do sensei, especially after that time you made me hollow bait." He said cheerfully, his voice laden in sarcasm. He stood and left the room, slipping back into his human body.

Urahara tapped the table with his fan before taking a sip of the now cold tea. "Am I doing the right thing?"

"He's a strong kid, it runs in the family." Yourichi stretched her feline body. "Don't worry."

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He couldn't move. It hurt so much, his bones, his body. This sinister voice inside his head was screaming at him. It was from before, back when he fought Byakuya, back when he thought he was going to lose.

Getting kicked around like a training bag burned a ragged hole through his pride, through his soul. Creatures like this? He could take the big one; the big one wasn't so tough. But right now he was fighting himself. Just because he refused to let the other take control, he couldn't move. He couldn't fight. He was helpless.

Ichigo's eyes widened as a blade intercepted the fist. "Welcome to the freak show." His brother, the idiotic older girl chasing shinigami brother was there. He was singing too.

What an ass.

Ai-ni blocked the attack with the flat of his blade. He just got out of a musical rehearsal when he felt the sudden decrease of reiatsu. The teenager jumped back, dodging another punch. Boy oh boy, that thing, a hollow-something was rather strong and not to mention missing an arm.

Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Ichigo's bloodied form. Ichigo was faster than this guy, probably chopped off an arm but nothing could explain why he was so badly damaged. The guy behind the big man, now he was just standing there watching. Creepy.

Orihime was on the ground too, bloody and broken. He felt his heart clench at the sight. Chad was on the floor as well. It looked like Chad nearly lost an arm. Ai-ni hoped Urahara and Yourichi will get here faster. His job was to make sure the others don't get even more damaged.

"Can I kill this punk too?" The big one yelled to the other, deferment.

The big green eyed male with pale skin focused his attention on Ai-ni and he nodded. "You may try."

"Ooorah!" The big one screamed out and punched.

Perhaps in a moment of brief insanity, Ai-ni stood his ground and blocked. He nearly got knocked head over heels. He dug in, half closing his eyes from the huge cloud of dirt that was kicked up. Okay, note to self, reinforce self with reiatsu before trying something as stupid as this.

Damn, his bones felt rattled.

He jumped back, moving out of the way as the Urahara and Yourichi took over the situation. When the green eyed one opened a teeth-like black portal, he took his chance.

Ichigo settled himself, breathing in and out. He wasn't that injured. The voice was gone but damage was done. From the looks of it, he's going to be sore for days. Orihime's healing abilities were busy reattaching Chad's hand to his arm.

"Anything you want to talk to me about?" Ichigo looked to see that his brother was back in his body.

"No."

Ai-ni shrugged. "Fine. But next time, wait for me."

Ichigo looked up at Ai-ni before coughing out a bit of blood. "Next time, don't be so slow."

It lacked Ichigo's usual arrogance, lacked his bravado. It seems this encounter was more damaging that it seemed. He took his brother's hand and stood, wincing.

Who were those guys?

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Don't die. Don't die. Don't die.

Oh god, he was going to kill Urahara. Granted if he survives, he will so kill that smug smooth talking bastard.

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"Hey, Ichi…." Ai-ni stared blankly at the room; he wanted to ask how Ichigo was doing but instead found a group of shinigami. "Ah. You're busy. I'll let you go back to your orgy."

He turned around to leave. Ichigo's hand grabbed him by his collar and shoved him into the room. "It's not an orgy you idiot!"

"Besides, you should listen too." Toushiro's cold voice stopped any impending squabble.

Ai-ni sat up, looking at Toushiro before looking away. "Sure, why not."

As he sat there and listened, his hand rubbed against his bandaged one. He hoped his soul self was still alive and well. In a few hours, this experimental mod soul will cease to exist and all the memories planted in will vanish.

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Aizen and his horde had their eyes closed and they were watching something. Everything was going to plan. Ai-ni watched in the safety of the cloaking field. The first function was a second skin that basically canceled any of his physical traits in this particular plane of existence.

The second function was to hide his reiatsu.

As long as he didn't make any odd sounds, he wouldn't be detected. It was the ultimate stealth suit, a beta work from Urahara's original.

His job was to spy. Yep. Spy. Find out any relevant information, relay said information and get out before he gets caught, tortured and possible killed.

This was the stupidest idea he had ever, ever done. He was going to get himself killed. Ai-ni reordered everything and he hoped, no prayed he could get out before anyone notices he was there. This was something not even Ichigo would do. No Ichigo would charge right in, swinging his sword and screaming bloody mary. That might even be a better plan

The little 'thing' stopped. Conversation happened. The blue eyed one, Grimmjow was picking on the green eyed one Ulquiorra. They were like two bickering children concluded Ai-ni. A part of him felt mystified why Aizen made these soldiers so human. Perfect toy soldiers would be better, would kill easier and far more manageable.

In totality, there were twenty arrancar in the room. All in ranging powers and size. The room felt suffocating and he knew, in certainty, that any wrong move and he was dead meat.

"Aizen-sama, may I speak?" Tousen, one of the renegade shinigami spoke, disrupting the argument between Ulquiorra and Grimmjow. "We have a spy in our midst."

There were varying reactions. "Really?" Aizen merely smiled. "Where?"

"It is right there." Tousen spoke, focusing on a seemingly empty spot in the room. Ai-ni gulped. Okay, time to bail. He pivoted on his heel and proceeded to sneak out of the room.

"You going crazy Tousen?" Grimmjow asked, he had no love for the shinigami.

"No. I am not." Tousen had no love for the arrancar.

Grimmjow jumped down to the ground, brushing past Ulquiorra. "I'll prove it." He stomped over to the spot and swished his arm. "See? Ain't nothing there."

Ai-ni took deep breaths, having sneaked behind Grimmjow, hiding behind the scary arrancar. Tousen drew his sword. "Stand still Grimmjow and I will show you where the infiltrator is."

"Fucking hell no." Grimmjow was not going to let that asshole use him. " Aizen-sama he's gone batshit insane, I say we put him down before he goes completely crazy."

Aizen humored Tousen, ignoring Grimmjow's request. "Do as you will Tousen."

Tousen narrowed his sightless eyes. "Stand still." He attacked.

Tousen's blade clashed with Grimmjow's. "And I said hell fucking no!" The Espada gritted his teeth, glowering.

While the two were fighting and all eyes were on them, Ai-ni was sneaking his way out of the room, one foot at a time.

Almost there….come on….

The door closed. Gin stood next to them, beaming. "Just in case." He said, as a few of the watching eyes shifted to him. Most of the eyes were watching the altercation. This was a fight just waiting to happen and those who watched, wanted to see how far Grimmjow would get before the fight ends.

Ai-ni swore under his breath. Crud. He was now stuck in a room full of hostile and possibly very powerful arrancar. He might as well gain intelligence on rank and so forth while he was here. He jumped up on a pillar, mindful of the arrancar on it and started to look for any significant he can record.

He looked up to see Aizen. This Aizen was going to attack Soul Society. It was unnerving. What was Ai-ni? A clone? A Mistake? Rarely does Ai-ni experience self doubt and this was not the appropriate time to experience said turmoil.

The youth felt something inside him twist. Was he capable of such chaos? Of such violence? Was there a darkness inside him, just waiting to claw out and burn the world?

"Go Grimmkitty!" His heart seized, his pulse jumped and Ai-ni let out a squeak as Gin's grinning face popped out of nowhere near his ear. He was on one of the pillars and as his arms pin wheeled, he fell.

He landed safely, soundlessly. But he displaced air. That means something is there. Gin followed and without warning, Ai-ni felt boney arms wrap around his figure. It was no wonder he yelped in surprise.

To everyone else a noise appeared, Gin grabbed something and was holding it. After a bit of struggling, a static sound resounded and something appeared in Gin's arms, a youth with brown hair, wide eyes and human clothes. He also had a zanpakuto.

Grimmjow and Tousen stopped their tussle to pause and look.

"Augh!" Gin got the boy in a head lock and was messing with his hair. "Leeme go!"

It's not every day you can give Aizen a noggey, even if it was a younger version and less dangerous it wasn't a chance he would pass up. Gin was having fun. Then he got bit.

"Hey." Gin let Ai-ni go, wiping the tiny pinprick of blood that appeared on his hand. "Now that was just mean." He even pouted.

Ai-ni tried to muse his hair back the way it was. He was close to hyperventilating due to the sudden trauma of it all. Jeez, that guy, what a groper. He's never going to feel clean again. Ever.

It was then, as these thoughts flickered in his head that he realized exactly how precarious his situation was. He was in a locked room, full of people who will like to kill him. Also, he just realized he had no idea how to open up a portal back to the Living World. The original plan was to piggy back on another person's portal. That doesn't look like something he could do at the moment.

_I'm going to Fucking Die. I'm Going TO FUCKING DIE!_

Outside he was calm, sheepish even but inside his emotions were whirling about like a blender. There was nothing in his resembling a plan in how to actually get out of the situation alive and in one piece.

"Kurosaki-kun." Aizen's voice rolled through like thunder, snapping the silent moment like a strike of lightning. "Welcome to Los Noches."

Ai-ni managed a small smile. "Nice place you have here. So white and clean and devoid of life" He said awkwardly. The scar above his eyebrow itched. "Not to mention the sekki stone, nice touch." He gave Aizen a thumbs up.

In the back of his head the mantra, "I'm going to DIE!" continued to play like background music.

"You're that other guy in the video." Grimmjow had sheathed his sword and was staring at the shinigami. "You look familiar."

Thankfully, the clothes he had on were disguising his reiatsu. Ai-ni nodded his head. "Yea I get that sometime."

Grimmjow dismissed the guy. Weakling. Not even worth killing. "Should I kill him Aizen-sama?" Grimmjow asked, this should be a warmup before he goes to kill the substitute shinigami.

"Grimmjow If I won't let you kill Kurosaki Ichigo, then why would I let you kill his brother?" Aizen asked amused, knowing how things will turn out.

Grimmjow grunted. Feh.

Ai-ni took this like a grain of salt and started to tiptoe his way out of there.

"Where are you going?" Aizen's pleasant voice was so pleasant it was scary. "Did I not say you are a guest here?"

"Nope." Ai-ni shook his head as he backpedaled.

"My mistake." Aizen's grin looked oh so twisted. "You are a guest."

"Thank you but no thanks. I have homework to do." He bolted, using shunpo. Ai-ni knew he could cut himself a hole, bolt, lay low and then sneak out. Somehow.

It was a plan.

Unfortunately, Yammi stood in the way. Ai-ni collided with him, sending Yammi into the ground with a loud thump and he went flying towards the door. The door and the back of his head meet with a loud crack.

As if he were a jukebox, the background music changed to something called "Jingle Bells".

Ai-ni stood, his body swaying. He realized, after seeing his vision double that he had a concussion. A part of him felt light as a feather while the other felt giddy. He focused on something, anything and his eyes landed on a pair of brown things that jiggled.

"You have big boobs." The words came out, as his brain scrambled to think properly. "Are they real? Or are they breast implantations?"

A silence followed as even Gin, stared incredulous at the dazed shinigami.

Nnoitra muffled his laugh in his hand, knowing that the shinigami was doomed. No one had ever said that to Halibel. Or rather no one survived to tell the tale.

Aizen broke the silence with a laugh. "Now this is amusing." Had he known how entertaining this Aizen was, he would've kidnapped him.

Halibel leveled a glare at the shinigami that promised pain and torture. A glare that would have made braver men pee their pants and beg for forgiveness, a glare that would make even Overlord Aizen cringe.

Oblivious Ai-ni plastered a grin on his face, a serene warm smile.

Grimmjow then realized exactly who the shinigami reminded him of. This kid looked like a miniature Aizen. They had the same fricking smile.

"No fucking way." Grimmjow said his face wide with surprise and even a bit of horror. "Aizen spawned?"

At his outburst, everyone stared at the shinigami and then at Aizen. May did a few take backs before the same realization crossed their mind.

"Oh dear." Szayel murmured.

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A/n: Happy Holidays!!!!

Have fun guys and gals!


	10. Run minime! RUN!

Aizen wasn't just an asshole; he was an accomplished one who knew how to hide his true nature. Now he got the chance to exercise it fully. He was an asshole and was proud of it. He also wanted obedient minions. Which was why now he was contemplating killing his arrancar and remaking them.

"I thought he was asexual."

"I thought it was osmosis."

"I thought he was gay."

"Wasn't he gay for Ichimaru?"

"True. I mean really they get together in their room and plot and sometimes strange noises come out."

While this was going, Aizen felt his reputation drop a few notches. He never knew there were so many rumors going around. Rather he never knew there were so many rumors about him.

Ai-ni smirked inwardly. His plan was working. The arrancar were so human they could be derailed by things normal human gets messed with. Somehow, he had a feeling they were like children. And Aizen-sama was dear ol daddy.

"Silence." Aizen's word was filled with power and all the arrancar stopped.

Grimmjow was the first to see the kid try to sneak away again, he grabbed the youth by the back of his shirt. "Can I just kill the kid?" Something about the kid rubbed the sexta the wrong way.

Aizen stared at Grimmjow before saying in a very stern yet fatherly way. "No."

Ai-ni wiggled his way out of Grimmjow's grip, ripping a bit of his shirt in the process.

"You heard your master." He stuck his tongue out. "Obey boy. Sit. Beg. Play dead."

He was tormenting this particular Espada for he figured; this one would be easily riled up.

"You're just going to let this shinigami asshole get away?" Grimmjow snapped, his eyes twitching at the thought. He had to resist throttling the kid.

"You know what you remind me of?" Ai-ni was grinning like the bastard he was. "A kitty!"

Grimmjow looked like he was going to kill the kid, his hand creped towards his zanpakuto.

"Want a mousey?" He punched all of Grimmjow's buttons effectively. "Or a saucer of milk?"

Grimmjow was going to jump him, then and there.

"Wait. Now I remember where I saw you from." He snapped his fingers. "Joey John John the pedophile or other wise known as Pedo Joe!"

"I'm not a pedofile!" Grimmjow howled. He pointed at the sleeping Espada. "Stark is the pedophile."

Stark made a snoring sound.

Ai-ni gave Grimmjow his widest grin. "Spoken like one in denial. Have you ever touched anyone in the naughty place?" He tilted his head. "Was it a little boy or girl?"

Enough was enough.

Grimmjow let loose a punch. The punch was guaranteed to knock him out for a week.

If it hit.

Which it did.

Ai-ni went flying into the wall, with a resounding crunch.

Aizen gave Grimmjow a disapproving look. Grimmjow didn't care. "That bastard tried to question my sexuality!"

"So you weren't a gay pedofile?" Szayel inquired with a smile. "You seem so interested in the orange haired shinigami boy."

Grimmjow growled. "You dick."

"Yes I have one and no I don't suck them." Syzael liked playing his games with Grimmjow, the blue haired Espada was so easy to rile.

A hand reached out of the ruble, and a body followed it. Some reiatsu was leaking out, as was blood, thick and wet. The punch did a lot of damage. One arm was broken, the bone cracked somewhere in the forearm. You can tell by the odd angle.

He vanished with a flicker before reappearing in front of Grimmjow, staring up at the tall arrrancar.

It was so sudden that Grimmjow didn't even notice until he felt the puff of air. He looked down.

Something in Grimmjow screamed at him to NOT MAKE EYE CONTACT!

Too late.

His good arm reached out, grabbing Grimmjow by his jacket and dragging him down to his eye level.

"Grimmjow Jaga…." His voice was a strangled hiss, his eyes wide and there was a hint of madness in them.

Before anything could be done or said, the threatening atmosphere disappeared. Ai-ni let go of Grimmjow, feeling odd and displaced. He stumbled to his left, a garganta opened, instead of teeth it was a big oval. He fell into the portal. It closed.

Grimmjow stared. "What the fuck?" His loud and vocal question hid the sheen of sweat that had developed on his face.

He had felt fear and that bothered him.

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He fell from the sky like a fallen angel, blood dripping onto the ground below like feathers. Ai-ni couldn't think straight, his arm hurt, his head hurt. He landed on the ground more gracefully than he thought.

He staggered off to the appointed meeting place. There his body waited. He disappeared into his body. There was pain. He fell over, landing on his back. His body didn't want to move.

He felt so tired.

A part of him said, _that he was been a weak SOB and that if he were in control, he would slaughter them all._

Another part, a darker part, said, **"If I were god, this would never happen."**

Ai-ni stared at the night sky. "Shut up." There was darkness growing, his vision was loosing clarity.

Ai-ni passed out.

When he woke up, he knew he missed something important. But what?

Ai-ni realized he was in his room. He sat up and walked out, realizing that someone made a cast for his arm and wrapped bandages around his head. He went over to Ichigo's room, opening it. There, his brother was staring at the moon.

If this were a manga, there would be a dark storm of doubt hovering over the boy's head just waiting to rain on him. Thankfully this was reality and not a story.

"Hey."

Ichigo didn't even move.

Ai-ni entered the room. "So, how was your day?"

Ichigo turned his head and looked at his brother, his eyes conveying what his voice cannot and will not.

"Bad eh?" He sat on the chair, looking at his brother who was sitting on the bed. "Tell me about it."

Ichigo furled his eyebrows. "It's nothing." He didn't need to burden his brother with his woes.

The two brothers stared at each other. They were both hiding secrets from each other, both feeling inadequate and both who were complete numbskulls not willing to look to their friends for help.

"I gotta go." Ai-ni stood. He started for the door. "Take care Ichigo."

He wasn't even sure if Ichigo heard.

Ai-ni slowly walked back, his eyes narrowed in concentration. There was this smell, this feeling that felt oh so very familiar. "Vizard." He whispered to himself, unsure of the word but he knew it was important.

Ai-ni went back to his room, wrote up his report and sealed it in a letter. He then went to Urahara's shop where he slipped the letter into mail slot. The shop was closed. None of the kids were outside playing so he assumed Urahara was busy.

Weirdly, his little adventure in hell wasn't that bad. Sure he nearly died and sure he exposed himself but there were some good things. He gathered good intel on the other side.

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Orihime went to her door, she heard the knocks.

When she opened it, there stood the last person she would ever thought to be at her door step.

"Kuro…" She paused, remembering how he wanted to be called. "Ai-ni." She smiled the best she could.

Ai-ni smiled back, the same fake smile that was on her face. "Hey Orihime-chan."

She invited him in, like he were a vampire who needed an invitation, before closing the door. "How are you?" She felt nervous for some reason.

"I'm good." He sat and waited for her to be seated. "Please Orihime-chan, please tell me everything that happened today. I…."

Orihime saw in his eyes the same look that Ichigo had but different, there was something else there that she couldn't describe, something she never saw before.

She told him everything.

It ended with Ai-ni slumped against the table, fast asleep. He was exhausted and stressed out. Orihime fetched a blanket and put it over him. She didn't mind another roommate.

She stared at his sleeping face and realized that she felt different towards him.

Orihime remembered something he said to her during their time together.

"There is always other fish in the sea." The words must've meant something. She placed her fist into her palm. "Something about yummy curry fried fish."

Had he been awake, Ai-ni would've sweat dropped as Orihime completely missed the meaning. But he wasn't. He was asleep in the apartment of the girl who he crushed on, who crushed on his brother, whose brother crushed on this other girl……and everyone was oblivious to the fact.

Nothing ever seemed to go his way or anyway he desired it to be.

Then again, nothing ever seemed to go the way anyone wants it to be.

They weren't God after all.

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A/N: And the plot goes on and on...with some subplots.

Wouldn't you want to be God?


End file.
